Heart-to-heart meeting with Cristobal, mom turns Miami’s Leonard Taylor into fierce D tackle
Former five-star recruit Leonard Taylor III was always a fan favorite and offensive lineman’s headache, but not until his mom sat in a meeting room with Miami coach Mario Cristobal did the 6-3, 280-pound defensive tackle’s game enter the stratosphere.
As the Hurricanes (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) prepare to meet Florida State (5-3, 3-3) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium, Taylor’s gifts will be needed to help stop the Seminoles’ 16th-ranked offense (487.1 yards-per-game). That heart-to-heart with Cristobal and mom might have come just in time.
“I had a meeting with him and my mom and all the coaches, and he broke down my film and basically told me what I needed to improve with and how to improve it,’’ said Taylor, whose six tackles, 1 1/2 sacks and four tackles for loss in Saturday’s quadruple-overtime win at Virginia earned him the nation’s second-best Pro Football Focus rating for any interior lineman (94.5). Taylor now has the distinction of being one of only four Hurricanes since 2004 to produce at least those single-game numbers. The others: Jaelan Phillips, Greg Rousseau and Marcus Robinson.
The previous week against Duke, Taylor had five pressures as a pass rusher and again graded as UM’s top player, despite the loss. This week’s ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week, Taylor now has 16 tackles, eight tackles for loss, three sacks and four quarterback hurries.
‘Grow up’
“Basically he was telling me I had to grow up, had to step up a little bit,’’ Taylor said Tuesday of Cristobal’s message. “After that, I listened to what he said, took it to heart, took it with me and ever since then I’ve just been going hard with everything I do.”
That includes laying off the junk food, putting on a bit more good weight to withstand those opposing linemen and becoming more dedicated to his all-around training.
Cristobal said in interviews with reporters and WQAM this week that the meeting with Taylor was three to four weeks ago.
“Just sitting down with him, things changed — a true commitment to getting his weight up, lifting, practice, more film, understanding the defense and working your assignments,’’ Cristobal said. “He was a game-changer on Saturday.’’
“When we had the meeting it basically opened my eyes and showed me I can’t [do] the stuff I was doing before,’’ Taylor said. “Coach Cristobal basically told me if I want to make it to the League I gotta work harder and I gotta go harder in practice [and] I gotta grind in the classroom. Really him telling me that in front of my mom, like, she basically gave me her side talk on it. And hearing that from both of them woke me up and then I just been getting back on the right track ever since.”
Palmetto star
Taylor, a sophomore out of Miami Palmetto High (and before that Miami Southridge), was the nation’s No. 4 defensive lineman and No. 11 player, regardless of position, in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2021. He had offers from virtually every top program in the country and ultimately chose Miami over Florida. He didn’t play in the first three games last season, but stayed patient, learned the intricacies of college defense and tied for the team lead of 7 1/2 tackles for loss in nine games.
In his senior high school season, Taylor helped Palmetto reach the Class 8A semifinals with 51 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, five sacks, three forced fumbles, six passes defended, an interception and blocked kick in seven games.
But he was still eating too much junk this season, and didn’t devote himself as much as he should, admitted Taylor.
“I cut out basically all the junk food, the candy and chips and all that,’’ he said. “I’m back on the protein shakes, drinking all them milks, eating a lot of rice and chicken and stuff like that. I had to gain [10] pounds back so I didn’t get pushed around on the double-teams like that.”
Halftime snacks
He said that at halftime, when players get snacks, the strength coach — presumably head man Aaron Feld — “screams all the time, ‘What you put in your body is how you’re going to finish the last of the game!’ I just eat a lot of gummy snacks, some Rice Krispies and fill up on Gatorade and that just treats me well and I go out there and play.”
Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele was asked what makes Taylor so good.
“He’s big, strong and fast — simply put,’’ Steele said. “Very, very talented. That’s DNA.’’
Said Canes running back Henry Parrish Jr., who played against Taylor in high school: “Just move out of the way and don’t let him grab you, because L.T. is a big guy, strong dude. You can’t let him put his hands on you or else it’s over with.’’
UM cornerback Tyrique Stevenson played at Homestead South Dade High when Taylor, who also played basketball growing up, was a freshman there.
“I’m just so proud of him,’’ Stevenson said. “L.T. is a guy that I watched grow up from a young bull playing with him at South Dade. We actually played on the same basketball team and then he transferred with me to Southridge and played with me there. Just seeing him becoming the man that I know he is is a great feeling.”
Stevenson said he reminds Taylor daily about “being the best he can be and just showing up.’’
“I just want him to keep his foot on the pedal.”
▪ Tight end Will Mallory was asked Tuesday how quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who injured his shoulder Oct. 22 against Duke, is doing regarding his practicing for the FSU game.
“It’s good to see him getting back out there and progressing and looking good. It’s always good to have him out there and doing well, which is good to see, especially because that was a scary moment a couple weeks ago.’’
