Cooper Taylor (born April 4, 1990) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

before transferring to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. He was selected in the fifth round by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

of the

2013 NFL draft The 2013 NFL draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

Early life

Taylor attended Marist High School in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. He was a two-time all-state and all-county selection and also earned three varsity letters in football in high school.

College career

Georgia Tech

He played

from 2008 to 2010. He was selected for the second-team All-ACC by Rivals and was an honorable mention Freshmen All-America by College Football News in the 2008 season.

Richmond

After being diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, Taylor missed most of the 2009 and 2010 seasons with Georgia Tech and transferred. He spent his final two seasons at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

. He was impressive during his time with the Spiders. In his senior season he was a selected for the First-team AP All-American, First-team Walter Camp All-America, First-team The Sports Network All-American, Second-team All-American by Phil Steele and the Second-team All-American by Beyond College Sports First-team All-CAA, the First-team VaSID All-State, College Sports Madness First-team All-CAA, the First-team Capital One Academic All-American and was the selection of the CoSIDA Academic All-District. He also was selected for The Touchdown Club of Richmond Division I National Defensive Back of the Year. Following the conclusion of his senior season, Taylor was selected to and participated in the 2013 East-West Shrine Game as a member on the East team. On February 19, 2013, he was selected as the CAA Football Scholar Athlete Of The Year.

Professional career

Before the draft, Taylor impressed scouts during his performance in the

East-West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

. His large frame (6'5", 228 pounds) and athleticism drew many comparisons to

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

safety

Kam Chancellor Kameron Darnel Chancellor (born April 3, 1988), nicknamed "Bam Bam Kam", is an American former professional football safety who spent his entire nine-year career with the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played colleg ...

. Taylor was eventually selected in the fifth round (152nd overall) in the

by the New York Giants. On October 20, 2015, he was waived by the Giants. On November 4, 2015, he was signed to the practice squad. On November 18, 2015, Taylor was promoted to the active roster. On August 30, 2016, he was waived by the Giants.

Personal life

Taylor is the son of former Georgia Tech quarterback Jim Bob Taylor who was drafted in the 11th round in the

1983 NFL draft The 1983 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1983, at the New York Sh ...

by the Baltimore Colts, where he spent his only NFL season in 1983.

References

External links

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets bioRichmond Spiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Cooper 1990 births Living people Richmond Spiders football players American football safeties New York Giants players Players of American football from Atlanta