Sean Taylor was never very subtle on a football field.

As a teenage tailback at Miami Gulliver Prep, he roared his way into the consciousness of South Florida football fans by breaking the state record for touchdowns with 44 -- the final three accomplished in the state championship victory against Marianna his senior season.

As a young man at the University of Miami, he did his damage on defense as a hard-hitting safety who dished out trash talk along with ferocious tackles.

And as a four-year NFL veteran with the Redskins, he has been no less understated. He was ejected and fined $17,000 for spitting on Buccaneers running back Michael Pittman during a playoff game in January 2006 -- one of several fines imposed during his career for late hits or other violations.

But off the field, say friends, former teammates and coaches, the man tied for the NFC lead with five interceptions is respectful, caring and extremely private.

Taylor, 24, is recovering at Jackson Memorial after being shot Monday during an invasion at his Palmetto Bay home. He is not the mean-spirited brute the world sees on Sundays, friends say.

''It's strange,'' said Joel Rodriguez, who played with Taylor at UM for three seasons and last saw Taylor in February before the Pro Bowl. ``For being as visible and flamboyant a player as he is on the field, he is very reserved and soft-spoken off it. It's not what you'd expect from a guy with that type of talent and mean streak.

``He is very, very quiet and very much one of the guys who blended into the framework of the team. He never tried to dominate the locker room. He was friendly, a good teammate. He never missed practice, showed up on time, went to class.''

UM team chaplain Steve Caldwell lives ''10 to 15 blocks'' from Taylor, who was at his Palmetto Bay home this past weekend while recuperating from a sprained knee.

On Monday morning, Caldwell received a phone call saying Taylor, whom Caldwell grew to know well through frequent games of dominoes in the UM locker room, was struggling for his life.

`DUMBFOUNDED'

''Honestly, I'm dumbfounded,'' said Caldwell, who has been with the football team since 1998, three years before Taylor arrived.

''The last [UM death] was Bryan Pata,'' Caldwell said. 'I was on and off for Marlin Barnes' murder, Chris Campbell, Al Blades, Pata . . . I don't know. It seems somebody has it out for our guys -- maybe that's not the right way to say it. But I don't know how to say it, fashion it, articulate it. It's just another unfortunate incident happening to one of our guys.''

It was early Monday morning when former UM tight end Buck Ortega got two text messages from agent Drew Rosenhaus.

''One said I was being signed to the New Orleans Saints practice squad,'' Ortega said. ``The other said Sean Taylor had been shot. It made me sick.''

Ortega, 26, was Taylor's roommate for two years when they played for the Hurricanes. Taylor left for the NFL after his junior season in 2003. Before that, they were good friends and teammates at Gulliver.

''I don't have a clue what happened,'' said Ortega, who packed his bags to go to New Orleans and hurried from his home in Delray Beach to stop at Jackson Memorial before he left. ``He was a great roommate and a great friend. He was respectful, no problems at all. We used to fish together, play video games, ride around and go out to eat. He's a quiet kid, never went around bragging.''

Taylor is the son of Florida City police chief Pete Taylor, who was an assistant coach at Gulliver when Sean played there. Taylor has a girlfriend and infant daughter who were at home during the shooting, said Anthony Leon, a Florida State safety and cousin of Taylor's.

''Sean has been trying to stay away from bad company, especially for his daughter's sake,'' Leon said.

Reskins running back Clinton Portis, who played at UM, told The Washington Post last month that Taylor's daughter had changed him.

''You gotta grow up all of a sudden,'' Portis said. ``It's not you, you, you. Now you got to sacrifice you all the time for her, her, her. When you have something so precious and innocent in your life like that, it gives you a special meaning for what matters.''

Ralph Ortega, Buck's father, played linebacker six years in the NFL, his last two with the Dolphins. His family had Taylor as a dinner guest often in years past.

''The last time I saw Sean was up in Washington, and he looked absolutely great,'' Ralph Ortega said. ``It was after a preseason game, and I've never seen a pro athlete better with kids.

``Right outside the stadium there's a little parking lot for players and coaches, and all the fans wait outside to try to meet them. Most players ignore the fans and stay in the middle of security. Not Sean. He had stopped to talk to a little girl.

'I could hear him asking her, `How are you doing in school?' Things like that. He was signing autographs for kids, talking with them.

``I've known Sean Taylor since he was 15 or 16 and I've seen him a lot over the years. I can tell you he has a great heart. He's not a thug.''

Richard Sharpstein, a Miami attorney who represented Taylor in a criminal case in which Taylor pleaded no contest and adjudication was withheld, said he also has known Taylor since his days at Gulliver.

A MILD-MANNERED KID

''My two daughters were cheerleaders there,'' Sharpstein said. ``Sean was a mild-mannered, soft-spoken, polite, pleasant, wonderful kid. When parents were around and we'd be raising money through bake sales or whatever, Sean was always helpful. He was not what you'd think of as some egocentric athlete. I've represented some athletes with big heads. They think the world owes them everything. This is not Sean.''

Sharpstein said Taylor grew up near Perrine in a lower-middle-class area.

''He picked himself up by the bootstraps,'' he said, ``went to Gulliver and was a good student. I'm totally and thoroughly shocked.''

Taylor's arrest record includes a 2004 DUI charge, of which he was acquitted, along with felony charges in 2005 when he was accused of waving a gun at young men he claimed stole his all-terrain vehicles. Taylor pleaded no contest and did community service in 10 high schools as part of his plea bargain.

Chris Myers, the starting center for the Denver Broncos, played three years with Taylor at UM.

''He was a hard-nosed type of guy who wouldn't take crap from anybody. He took all the negative stuff he had built inside and used it against the other players on the field,'' Myers said. ``He's the type of guy who lays the wood on anyone coming across the field. . . . `He's a guy I respect a lot.''

Miami Herald sportswriters Manny Navarro and Patrick Dorsey contributed to this report.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@