CANTON, Ohio — Jason Taylor enjoyed the culmination of a career in which he totaled 139.5 sacks over 15 seasons when he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.
That career began as a three-year starter and two-sport star at Akron in the Mid-American Conference from 1993-96. Taylor hasn't forgotten those roots. When the MAC held its Media Days at the Pro Football Hall of Fame from July 25-26, Taylor spoke to the players in attendance.
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He remembers when former Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson "had this vision that he was going to take this skinny kid out of Akron, this tweener and find a position for him."
Taylor made that pay off.
"Some kids would go there or say you’re not going to have a chance or whatever,” Taylor during the festivities in Canton. "If you can play, they’ll find you. There is a lot of good football being played in the Mid-American Conference."
Taylor became the sixth Pro Hall of Famer with Mid-American Conference ties and joined Jack Lambert (Kent State) as the second player who finished his career at a MAC school to be enshrined. It’s part of an impressive run for the conference that should grow into the future.
"There is going to be more Hall of Famers from the Mid-American coming up with Ben Roethlisberger and some of those guys coming through and have their turn in Canton," Taylor said.
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That much is true. Roethlisberger (Miami, Ohio), Randy Moss (Marshall) and Antonio Gates (Kent State) are Hall of Fame locks. James Harrison (Kent State) has a case. Antonio Brown (Central Michigan) and Khalil Mack (Buffalo) were ranked No. 4 and No. 5 when NFL.com released its Top 100 players for 2017. Julian Edelman (Kent State) made a game-changing catch in Super Bowl 51.
"We’re well aware of who our guys are,” MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher told SN on March 11. "We’re just tickled to death for them, when Edelman made that catch in the Super Bowl it was a PSA. Every time Ben Roethlisberger throws a TD, it’s a PSA for the conference.”
The MAC built on that momentum by sending a record number of players to the 2017 NFL combine and a record 11 players to the 2017 NFL Draft. That included first-round pick Corey Davis (Western Michigan), who landed with Tennessee, and third-round pick Kareem Hunt (Toledo), who has made a strong impression with the Chiefs in training camp.
Perhaps one of those players will go on to have a career like Taylor, who enjoyed that moment right in the heart of the Mid-American Conference territory. Expect those PSAs to continue with Brown, Mack, Edelman and many others in the NFL.
"There’s a lot of great players who didn’t play for the ‘big schools’ in the country," Taylor said. "Still surprising AB and Khalil are doing that. There are just a lot of good players in the MAC."
