Will Taylor details plans for football, says championship accolade is credit to his team

Will Taylor has enjoyed a big first fully-healthy season for Tiger baseball.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Jun 01 07:00:16 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Will Taylor is in just his second season at Clemson, playing both football and baseball, but he already finds himself in some elite company.

Clemson has had a few players in both sports – DJ Reader tried his hand at pitching and playing first base before committing entirely to football, and DJ Uiagalelei would have certainly had a spot on the baseball team had he tried out. Kyle Parker is perhaps the best of the recent crop.

After redshirting during his freshman season, Parker spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons as the starting quarterback for the football team. He was also an integral part of the school's baseball team and was part of the last Clemson team to win a Super Regional and make it to Omaha.

Parker was drafted by the Colorado Rockies as the 26th overall pick in the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft and made his Major League Baseball debut with them in 2014.

But Taylor accomplished something recently that hasn’t been done in a long time - he became the first athlete since 1988-89 (Rusty Charpia) to win ACC championships in both football and baseball in the same school year.

In typical Taylor fashion, however, he downplayed the accomplishment while talking to TigerNet Tuesday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

"I haven't really been thinking about it," Taylor said Tuesday. "I've heard some people talking about it, but I wouldn't have had the opportunity without great players around me and great coaches. We're just doing our thing, having fun playing ball. So, it's no surprise to us as a team, and we're gonna keep it going."

Taylor has been stellar this season – he’s played in 57 of Clemson's 60 games. Taylor ranks second on the team with a .362 batting average and first with a .485 on-base percentage. He is also 8-for-8 in stolen base attempts.

Clemson enters the 2023 NCAA Tournament as college baseball's hottest team, having won 16 games straight against rugged competition in the ACC. The Tigers secured the No. 4 overall seed in the tournament and host an NCAA Regional, which starts Friday.

In football, Taylor started his Clemson football career at quarterback in 2021 before a scheduled transition to wide receiver in 2022. He enters 2023 with five career carries for 20 yards, seven receptions for 22 yards and a touchdown, 16 punt returns for 90 yards and a 14-yard kickoff return in 15 career games with 44 offensive snaps.

He didn’t participate in spring practice and hasn’t had time to grasp the nuances of new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley’s offense.

“Talking with Coach (Tyler) Grisham over there, and I've had a couple of meetings with the offense. This is a new role for me,” Taylor said. “I haven't had time to really go over there but I am going to put in some time this summer, and hopefully, I will have some time to work out on my own and really master my craft over there as a receiver. Come mid-July, and we will flip the switch.”

For now, however, baseball has his full attention.

“We didn't get this opportunity last year and now it's totally different,” Taylor said. “Credit to the coaches for bringing this culture in here and credit to the players for just playing free. That is what we do here. This is a lot of fun.”