Taylor’s twisting journey leads to Lions
Former UCF player selected by Orlando City in SuperDraft
The past few years for Orlando City forward Nick Taylor have been a twisting and turning journey for his soccer career.
At this time in 2021, the SMU senior was just starting his final year of college soccer, delayed due to COVID.-19 It ended in April when UCF knocked the Mustangs out of the AAC championship game.
Following his career ending there, Taylor was at a crossroads. Due to the pandemic, he still had one year of eligibility left and put his name into the transfer portal to play one final semester elsewhere.
As fate would have it, the team he’d played his final collegiate game against — SMU — came calling, with an old friend on the other line.
Taylor and UCF associate head coach Paul Souders share a bond that has persisted for more than a decade, well before Taylor was being recruited for colleges.
“I actually heard about Nick when he was in middle school, because he went to the middle school where my mom worked and his mom volunteered in the office,” Souders said.
At the time, Souders was the head coach at the University of New Mexico, looking for players to bring into a budding program, fresh off a Final Four loss a few years prior.
Taylor, meanwhile, was making his way back in Texas at Coppell High School, which happened to be Souders’ alma mater. Through their mothers, Taylor and Souders connected and that led to an invite to an ID camp at New Mexico in the summer of 2016.
“He had a different quality to him with his pace,” Souders said, “He just was very, very fast and he had a real knack in the final third, his final pass was good. He scored a lot of goals and he was left-footed. He was a really intriguing recruit just from that moment.”
That relationship continued on from there, evolving into a verbal commitment by Taylor to join Souders and the Lobos in the fall of 2017.
“I had a number of like D2, D3 offers, but New Mexico was my only D1 offer,” Taylor recounted. “Paul was from the same town as I was, he saw my potential and believed in me.”
As signing day approached the two, however, so did a different opportunity for Souders.
“A week before signing day, I accepted the
opportunity to come to UCF and work with Scott [Calabrese]. So after nine years of being in New Mexico, I make this big decision, and the first phone call was actually to Nick.”
Souders had chosen to leave New Mexico and join his friend Calabrese at UCF as his assistant, a job Calabrese had just taken himself weeks before. Despite the one who recruited Taylor no longer being with the Lobos program, Sounders still told the winger to remain committed to the program.
Taylor took his advice and remained there for his first two years of collegiate soccer.
Following the 2018 season, the soccer program was shut down and Taylor was left trying to figure out his next step. Souders was naturally one of the first people he called.
It seemed like a second chance for the two to reconnect, but with UCF having depth at the wing position, it wasn’t in the cards.
Taylor decided to return to Texas and join a budding soccer powerhouse in SMU, spending the 2019 and 2020-21 seasons with the Mustangs and making it to the Sweet Sixteen his first year with the program.
Taylor and Souders now found themselves as conference rivals in the American Athletic Conference, with SMU and UCF facing off on multiple occasions.
“During that 2021 spring season, I finally saw the player I always had the vision of what he could be at this level,” Souders said. “I thought he was fantastic for them. I thought in the conference semifinal against us here, he should have won them the game against us.”
Ultimately, this led to the phone call that would finally reunite the two.
“I had had zero contact outside of seeing each other at those games and wishing each other well,” Souders said. “But then his name popped up on the transfer portal after the season. I called him that night and I just said, ‘Hey, are we crazy to think that this could be an option for you?’ ”
The rest is history. After joining the Knights last fall, Taylor scored three goals and notched nine assists in the 16 games, becoming a leader in the locker room, a film junkie and an overall standout player.
“I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for Paul,” Taylor said, “Definitely a big influence on my career. He saw my potential and believed in me.”
Despite Taylor’s career year, with his collegiate career finishedprofessional play was next. As with previous stops, there was more uncertainty.
“I went back to Dallas with my friends and my family and there was one point I was just like, ‘Man, I miss Florida. I miss Orlando. I wish I can go back.’ ” Taylor said. “I even talked to coach Souders at one point before the draft, and I told him, ‘If I don’t get picked up and if I’m still trying to find a team to play with, is there any way I can come back to UCF and train with you guys during the spring just to get some touches and to get some high-level training because I really want to come back to Orlando?’ I absolutely love it here.”
Imagine the surprise for Taylor that Orlando City would call his name with the 74th overall pick. He would be coming back to Orlando after all, this time with a chance at playing pro with the Lions, for whom he is trying to earn a spot on the roster.
“It was crazy,” Taylor said, “I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. The journey has been insane. It’s been awesome.”
His former coach and friend of almost a decade couldn’t be prouder of him.
“That’s the idea when you recruit a guy, you feel a responsibility to this future version of himself,” Souders said. “It’s always been inside of Nick. He’s always had this potential. It’s exciting for him right now.”