Local prep school phenom, University of Miami standout, National Football League All-Pro. Fame, wealth, abundant talent dashing toward new goals. And now, premature death, a memorial service, a burial.

Relatives, friends and teammates eulogized slain football player Sean Taylor on Monday as a football star and a genuine hero, as a passionate and caring young man and as a victim and a symbol.

''Even champions live in danger,'' said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, issuing an emotional plea that lessons be drawn from this death.

''None of us will say, even champions, that our homes are safe,'' Jackson told the star-studded crowd. ``We've accepted violence as the norm. It is uncivilized. It must be rejected.''

Said Pastor David L. Peay Sr. of the Tabernacle Seventh-day Adventist Church, who castigated some of the media for jumping to erroneous conclusions about Taylor and the event that killed him:

``He gave his life with right decisions. He laid down his life for his family. Sean was doing what he was supposed to. He wasn't in the street. He was home.''

About 3,000 people gathered at the Pharmed Arena on Florida International University's main campus to remember Taylor, a star safety for the Washington Redskins, slain last week during an attempted burglary of his Palmetto Bay home.

He was just 24 years old, and he stepped toward the intruders, not away, determined to protect his girlfriend and 18-month-old daughter, both named Jackie.

''This is just so hard,'' said Ethenic Sands, 27, who played with Taylor for two years at UM and now plays in the Arena Football League. ``It's like every other year we're losing another brother. We have to start living right and stop killing each other.''

Most of those in attendance wore a pin emblazoned with Taylor's uniform number: 21. Among the songs they heard: Bridge Over Troubled Water. Soloist Tangela Shepard sang The Lord is My Shepherd.

Guests sat on long rows of white chairs or in the stands. Large floral wreaths, some in the burgundy and yellow colors of the Redskins, framed both sides of Taylor's casket. One wreath took the shape of a U, decorated with carnations of orange and green, UM's colors.

VIDEO MONTAGE

The three-hour service began with a video montage of Taylor, followed by hymns and prayers, and then remarks by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and many others.

''It's times like this that make all of us struggle to find the meaning in life,'' Goodell said.

''The NFL is proud of Sean Taylor,'' he said. ``He loved football and football loved him back. But more important is what he was as a man and what he was becoming as a man.''

Later, Taylor's 18-month-old daughter, in a burgundy dress, toddled up to her father's closed casket as her aunt, Carolina Garcia, tearfully spoke of Taylor's relationship with Garcia's sister.

''I have never come across anyone who loved their partner the way my sister loved Sean,'' Garcia said. ``She loved him from the moment she laid eyes on him. It was the same day Sean went home and told his stepmother he needed to learn Spanish because he met Jackie.''

FELLOW PLAYERS

Among the other attendees: many former UM and current NFL players, including many of Taylor's current and former teammates.

''This is something that you hate to see happen,'' said Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans, who played with Taylor at UM. ``This day means a lot to me.''

Also in attendance were actor Andy Garcia, an uncle of Taylor's girlfriend, NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw, current UM football coach Randy Shannon and former UM coaches Larry Coker and Butch Davis. O.J. Simpson also showed up.

The funeral was moved to FIU's arena because UM's already was booked for a basketball game and being prepared for a presidential debate.

Virtually the entire Redskins organization -- players, coaches, executives -- flew to South Florida early Monday in the wake of Sunday's gloomy home game against Buffalo, a final-minute loss that shattered the remaining fragments of their fans' hearts.

When the Redskins' defensive unit took the field for its first play, only 10 players lined up -- the football version of the missing-man formation -- in honor of Taylor.

Late Monday, four young men arrested last week in Fort Myers and charged with murder and other offenses in Taylor's death were transferred to Miami-Dade County.

Charles Wardlow, 18, Jason Mitchell, 19, and Venjah K. Hunte, 20, were booked into the Miami-Dade County Jail, said corrections spokeswoman Janelle Hall. Eric Rivera, 17, was to be taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.

A fifth man was being sought.

Police said the men planned to burglarize Taylor's house, thinking he wasn't there.

FATEFUL MORNING

He was there; he was shot in the early hours of Nov. 26 as he surprised the burglars and defended his girlfriend, their daughter and his home with a machete. Grievously wounded, Taylor died the next day.

A star at Gulliver Preparatory School and at UM, where he played on the 2001 national championship team, Taylor joined the Redskins in 2004.

He quickly gained a starting position in the defensive backfield and soon emerged as one of the league's most prominent, accomplished -- and fierce -- safeties, earning a trip to the league's most recent Pro Bowl.

And then it ended, last Monday, in the early morning darkness, with senseless violence.

Escorted by his family and close friends, Taylor's body was taken through the lengthening shadows of Monday afternoon to a local cemetery for a private burial.

''Sean will never, ever be forgotten,'' Pastor Alphonso Jackson III said. ``God, we put this in your hands today. Help us get through this hour.''

Miami Herald staff writers Oscar Corral, John Devine, Michelle Kaufman, Jennifer Lebovich and David Ovalle contributed to this report.