Rice defensive end will be preferred walk-on at Stanford
In less than a year, Birmingham Brother Rice football player Aristotle Taylor transformed himself from a video game champion to a gentleman of Stanford on the gridiron.
The Warriors’ 6-8, 240-pound defensive end will play his college football in the Pac-12, deciding to accept a preferred walkon spot at Stanford University in California this week.
Taylor didn’t play football until his senior year. He began his journey to the field as a team manager at Brother Rice during summer workouts.
Then, he tried out for the team.
Then, he made the team. Then, he became a standout on the team and got a bevvy of bids to play Division I college football.
Vanderbilt, Yale, Dartmouth Cornell, Columbia, Air Force, Georgetown and Illinois State made full offers. Stanford, Michigan, Michigan State, Virginia and Notre Dame all offered PWO slots.
Taylor is a young man
of many talents. He excels in the classroom and for most of high school, he was known as one of the best video gamers in the area, making a name for himself on the tournament circuit.
“It’s been a crazy experience,
I would have never imagined something like this could have happened,” Taylor said. “Stanford is an elite school, the chance to go there and play football was the total package. It’s the perfect place for me to
develop as an athlete and a student and I’m just humbled to receive this kind of opportunity. To think where I came from to where I am now in such a short period of time is amazing to me. I think it really goes to show it doesn’t matter where you start your journey, it only matters where you finish. I’m really happy with where I finished this chapter of my life.”
Brother Rice went 7-2 in 2020.
Taylor broke into the Warriors starting lineup by Week 2 and tallied 55 tackles, eight sacks, two blocked punts and two forced fumbles.
In the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford is an academic superpower as well as having a very good football team. Stanford is coached by Rochester Adams alum David Shaw.
The Cardinal posted a 4-2 record in a truncated COVID-19-effected campaign last fall.
Shaw has been at the helm of the Stanford football program for a decade and has only suffered one losing season, while winning three Pac-12 titles and two Rose Bowls.