The Taylors had moved from the city years before the storm struck, but a lot of family members felt Katrina’s wrath.
“That’s mostly where I got my selflessness and servant from my parents because when they were there, we had to feed them and stuff like that,” Taylor said.
At the University of Memphis, Taylor emerged as a star with 546 rushing yards as a freshman, 866 yards and 13 touchdowns as a sophomore and 1,122 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior.
Taylor was given two options: one that would allow him to return to action and one that would end his season.
“Nothing on Memphis,” Taylor said, “but you offer a kid that’s 20 years old at the time and had aspirations of going to the NFL and getting drafted that year, possibly upgrading his draft status, and you tell him, ‘Hey, we can get you back in six to eight weeks if you do this surgery or you do this sixth-month surgery and miss the whole year?’ I’m going to go with the six to eight weeks.
“It means a lot,” he said.
At 6-foot-2 and 217 pounds, Taylor is a big man with a running style similar to that of former Packers standout James Starks.
“I feel like I can bring a number of things,” Taylor said.
Having sat out his rookie season and not played since scoring a touchdown against Penn State in the Cotton Bowl on Dec.