2020 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: Christian Taylor, OL, Benedict College

• Name: Christian Taylor
• Height: 6’6
• Weight:360
• Position: Offensive Line
• College: Benedict College
• Twitter: @thelowman_72

Tell us about your hometown, and what you love most about it?

• I spent my childhood in two unique places: New Ellenton, SC and Lexington, SC, and because they both greatly contributed to the man I am today, I claim them both as hometowns. New Ellenton is a small city where many obstacles face the children there – poverty, crime, etc. The demographics were almost exactly split African American to white. The one thing that brought all the residents together, was athletics. It was here that I learned my passion for football and developed my competitiveness. In middle school I moved to Lexington, SC. This was a big change from New Ellenton and presented its own challenges. Lexington is about 93% white, Suddenly, I was the only kid in my class who was black (I am actually biracial). I had to adapt, learn how to function in a new environment with new people, and grow. The man I am is rooted in both places, so I claim both as hometowns.

List these three in order of importance and why: Film Study, Strength and Conditioning and Practice?

• Film Study, Practice, Strength and Conditioning. I say this because film study can put you miles ahead of your opponent. If you know what they are going to do before they do it, it makes winning easier. Practice second because you have to have eleven guys working in unison for one common goal. That is hard to do so the more practice the better your eleven guys will operate. Strength and Conditioning I put last, even though I feel all play key roles in success. I have just notice that the stronger kids are not always better players. While strength does help, fundamentals can beat even the strongest of people.

What do you worry about, and why?

•  I worry about my family, that everything is always okay and smooth for them, as well as my future and setting up my future family with the best situation possible.

Give me an example of when you failed at something. How did you react and how did you overcome failure?

•I lost the Track and Field State Championship in HS, by only a few inches. Initially I was really upset, angry. But turn around a little later and I am a College Individual and Team conference champion in the Shot-put. 

What do your teammates say is your best quality?

•  I believe they mostly would all say my understanding for the game, and knowing when and where people will be before they get there.

Who is the best player you have ever played against in college?

•  Leonard Floyd

What would your career be if you couldn’t play football? 

•  Either a college coach, game warden, or working for a NFL team hopefully.

Room, desk, and car – which do you clean first?

•  Room

If there was a disaster and you could either save three strangers or one family member, which would you choose and why?

•  One family member, while I’d like to think that I could save 3 lives I feel like in a disaster my adrenaline and worry would directly go towards my family member.

If you could be any television or movie character, who would you be and why?

•  Steven Rinella from the show MeatEater. He is a avid hunter and fisherman. He does what I wish I could do. Travel to hunt and fish different locations for pay.

Tell me about your biggest adversity in life and how you’ve dealt with or overcome it?

•  My biggest adversity in life would be growing up in a single parent household. No father, and my mother having me at 16. I don’t call it a disadvantage, but I wasn’t dealt the hand that some have. The simplest way to deal with was always keep myself busy in sports, and let my grandfather act as my Father figure. As well as my step-dad when he came along. 

What is your most embarrassing moment?

•  I was carrying food and drinks on a tray in sonic and did not see a wet floor sign… Safe to say I took the floor for a spin!

What was the most memorable play of your collegiate career?

•  I would have to say either blocking two FGs to solidify a win over Clark Atlanta or being on the field when the clocks hit zero in the first ever bowl game for Georgia Southern.

What song best describes your work ethic?

•  Wale ft Meek Mill – Ambition

What is the most important trait you can have (Physical or Non-Physical) to help you succeed at the next level? 

•  Brains and smarts. Being able to remember plays and assignments. Being able to identify formations and know what peoples tendencies are in the certain formations they are in.

If you could bring one person back from the dead for one day, who would it be and why?

•  Steve Irwin, because I love the outdoors and his death was so sudden and a tragedy. That’s who I would want my day with.

If you were to open a dance club, what would you name it? 

•  Club 672

Who is the most underrated player in the NFL? 

•  Tyler Boyd – Bengals

Would you rather be liked or respected, and why?

•  Respected, being liked brings people around you who may necessarily not need to be involved in your life. But I feel if you find people who respect you, those are the people who truly care for you and wouldn’t put you in jeopardy or harms way. 

What player who had his career derailed by off-field issues do you feel for the most and why?

•  Brian Banks, I feel for him because he was falsely accused and missed out on years of his life that could have contributed to him having a longer career in football than he did. He missed out on football at Southern California which could have prepared him for the NFL and also offered him a degree. The best part of attending college.  But with being accused he lost out on the degree for FREE at the time and that experience of college football.

Do you love to win, or hate to lose?

•  Hate to lose.

Who has been the biggest influence on your life and explain why?

•Momma. No question. Shes worked harder than ANY person I know. As a single mother she always made sure we had what we needed even when she didn’t have for herself. She broke her back and put in hours to provide for my sisters and I. Awesome enough, she still does that to this day teaching Chemistry at the University of South Carolina. That is why she is my biggest influence, because she was mom and dad. The correct term is Super Woman. Love you ma!