Discovery by Novak led to Hall
June 1991. Under Novak, hundreds of football players earned scholarships to college, a dozen earned NFL roster spots.
One would make it all the way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“He was in middle school when I was at Steel Valley,’’ said Novak, who began coaching there in 1977. “When I left Steel Valley, I hadn’t seen him for a few years.”
Taylor was a fan but had never played organized football. His sport was basketball and he was good at it. Still, Novak invited him to a passing camp that night.
“I don’t know if I’m allowed,’’ Taylor said. “I’m homeschooled.”
Stop down at the field tonight, Novak said.
That evening, Novak asked Taylor to run a “9 route.” What’s that? Just go deep. He did caught the pass and Novak told him, “You made the team.”
It would not be the only time George Novak helped Jason Taylor on the course to his date in Canton, where he will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday night.
He was the backup tight end his first season playing organized football, then moved up to No. 1 tight end and safety as a senior. His first love was still basketball and he was hoping to earn a scholarship playing that sport, but he had no full scholarship offers in either. Then Novak interrupted again.
He begged an old friend to view Taylor’s football tapes and then watch him play basketball at Woodland Hills. Bob Junko was an assistant coach at the University of Akron.
“I watched the film,’’ said Junko, a longtime Pitt assistant coach and now an administrator for the Panthers football team. “He played OK but nothing spectacular.”
Junko then watched him play basketball in person and had this reaction: “Holy mackerel.”
Junko, like Novak, loved the athlete in Taylor. He offered him a scholarship on the spot.
“It panned out for us, really worked out for us,’’ Junko said. “Without George’s recommendation, I wouldn’t have done what I did. He’s given me good players over the years. How he found Jason is unbelievable.”
Taylor accepted Akron’s offer and went to play for head coach Jerry Faust.
“If it was free it was for me, coming from where I came from,’’ Taylor said. Faust promised him he could play basketball and football and Taylor said, “I’ll be like Bo Jackson,” except when he arrived at Akron he discovered he could play neither.
Faust told him to concentrate on football and he could play basketball in a few years. But then the NCAA issued a weird ruling that he could not play football as a freshman because he was home-schooled.
“It wasn’t in vogue back then,’’ Taylor said. “It was new to everybody. I was one of the first guys to be homeschooled and play local high school football. I think I was the first to get a D-1 scholarship.”
So he did not play his first year at Akron, used it as a red shirt. The NCAA ruling was hypocritical because Taylor was well ahead in academics.
“He came from a wonderful family,” Junko said. “Education was a big thing for them and he was always a good student. Just for him to go through what he had to go through his first year. He wanted to play and he couldn’t play, couldn’t understand why.”
Taylor made up for lost time by starting three years for the Zips at outside linebacker and end as their defense moved between 4-3 and 3-4 alignments. He was a natural. “He took to football like nobody else I’ve ever seen,’’ Junko said. “He was one of the greatest off the edge on blitzes.”
Virginia Tech found out just how effective Taylor could be in a 1996 game. He had 12 tackles, two sacks, two fumble recoveries and a safety when he tackled the punter in the end zone.
He also would start as a junior for Akron’s basketball team, but by his senior year it was evident what would pay the bills and this time it would not be by mowing grass, although ultimately that is what delivered him to football.
“It panned out for us. ... Without George [Novak’s] recommendation, I wouldn’t have done what I did. He’s given me good players over the years. How he found Jason is unbelievable.” Bob Junko, then-Akron University assistant, 1988-94