Wise head coach Steve Rapp simply refers to Taylor Brown as a natural.
Brown, 6-foot-4, 255-pounds, is a three-sport athlete at his school earning all-state honors in both baseball and wrestling. And Rapp believes that he very well could add football to that list this year as he just started to commit to the game for the first time.
“We’re hoping to get an all-state performance from him in football. He has all the measurables. He’s a freaky twitched-up athlete and we’re hoping that can bloom,” he said.
Brown has only been playing football for three years and Rapp believes that he is just a shell of what he is eventually going to develop into as he adds both size and strength.
His head coach believes that given his athletic ability along with a frame that could easily carry 30-40 more pounds he has a lot of potential. In fact, Brown is the player that Rapp credits for revamping his entire off-season weight training program.
“Going into his junior year he didn’t do anything with us in the off-season because he was playing travel baseball. And he comes in three days before we’re handing out equipment and we’re testing maxes and he has the third highest max on the team,” he said.
But that was also when Rapp knew that Brown had a bright future in the game.
“That’s when I knew there’s something about this kid,” he said.
Rapp sees Brown as an interior lineman in the future but he has the athleticism and feet to play left tackle for his high school team on top of his efforts on the defensive side.
The decision to commit to West Virginia was one that was forged in trust as defensive line coach AJ Jackson and head coach Neal Brown, along with others, made a strong connection.
And while Brown has certainly impressed, his best football is certainly ahead of him.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
