Zac Taylor

Early collegiate career

Despite Taylor's record-setting career at Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma, few colleges recruited him. Even his hometown school, the Oklahoma Sooners, passed him over. In 2002, he signed with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, where he redshirted his first year, and filled in as a backup position the next, completing the only pass he attempted in those 2 years. From there he transferred to Butler Community College (Kansas) where he passed for nearly 3,000 yards with 29 touchdowns. In his breakout season, Taylor led Butler to the NJCAA championship game and earned second-team NJCAA All-American honors.

Nebraska

After his 2004 season Taylor looked at multiple NCAA Division I schools, including Memphis, Marshall and Nebraska. Nebraska had abandoned their long standing running/option offense for an entirely new, West Coast offense led by newly appointed coach Bill Callahan. The Huskers had a rebuilding season in 2004, going 5-6 and missing a bowl bid for the first time since 1968. His recruitment late in the 2004-05 off-season by the Huskers was described as a "lucky break" due to the Huskers' lack of quarterbacks at the time.

Taylor had a rough start, statistically speaking, in his 2005 year at Nebraska, completing 39 of 89 passes for 399 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions in his first three games. In his fourth game however, Taylor had a breakout day against Iowa State, throwing for a school record 431 yards on 36 of 55 passing with two touchdowns. The 36 completions was also a school record at the time. He steadily improved throughout the season, ending in a 30-3 win against Colorado where he threw 392 yards, and a come-from-behind 32-28 win against the Michigan Wolverines in the Mastercard Alamo Bowl, where he threw a Nebraska bowl record 3 touchdown passes. Taylor broke the school record for passing yards in a season with 2,653 yards on 55.1% of his passes being complete.

In his 2006 opener against Louisiana Tech, Taylor showed significant improvement over his season-opener the previous year, completing 22 of 33 attempts for 287 yards with 3 touchdowns and one interception. The game after, against Nicholls State, Taylor once again showed his precision in passing the ball, finishing 19 of 23 for 202 yards and a new career-best in 4 touchdown passes.

Taylor led the Nebraska Cornhuskers to a record of 9-3 with an appearance in the 2006 Big 12 Championship Game, facing off against the Oklahoma Sooners. Taylor passed for 2789 yards and 24 touchdown passes during the regular season and earned Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

Professional career

Taylor went undrafted in the 2007 NFL Draft as was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but was cut in the preseason. He then went to Canada and joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as their 4th string quarterback for a single season in the CFL, but did not play in a game and did not return for the 2008 season, instead beginning his transition into coaching. The Blue Bombers played in the 95th Grey Cup (the CFL Championship game) on November 25, 2007 but did not win.

Coaching career

On January 30, 2012, Taylor was named assistant quarterbacks coach for the NFL's Miami Dolphins. He was previously an assistant coach at Texas A&M, serving under former head coach Mike Sherman, his father-in-law. On November 30, 2015, he was promoted to the team's interim offensive coordinator, after the firing of the previous offensive coordinator, Bill Lazor. During the five games Taylor served as OC, the Dolphins went 2-3 and averaged 17 points per game, a slight regress from their per-game average under Lazor, though Interim Coach Dan Campbell still had positive things to say of Taylor's performance.

In January 2016, Taylor was hired by Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Tommy Tuberville to be the Bearcats' offensive coordinator. According to Taylor, Jim Turner, who had been an offensive line coach for the Dolphins, was the one who connected him with Tuberville. Taylor was seen as a "rising start in the coaching ranks" by the Bearcats, thanks to his experience in the NFL and his job developing Miami Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Under Taylor's mentoring, Tannehill had set many team records, including being the only Miami QB to throw for 3,000 yards in four straight seasons and being only the second Miami QB with multiple 3000-yard seasons, as well as totaling the third-most passing yards for a QB in his first four seasons in NFL history, with 15,460.

Personal life

Taylor is married to Sarah Sherman, and they have three children: Brooks, Luke, and Emma Claire. Taylor's younger brother, Press Taylor, was a quarterback for Marshall University and is currently the offensive quality control and assistant quarterback coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. Taylor's father, Sherwood, was a defensive back and captain for Oklahoma and head coach Barry Switzer from 1976-1979. His sister, Kathryn, is a Special Olympics swimmer.