ATHENS, Ohio – Back in March, James Taylor was gliding down the field when he made his cut and quarterback Dontrell Jackson threw a pass in his direction.

Friday, September 01, 2000

ATHENS, Ohio – Back in March, James Taylor was gliding down the field when he made his cut and quarterback Dontrell Jackson threw a pass in his direction. Taylor made the grab for a 10-yard gain.

A weapon had been unleashed.

The Ohio Bobcats have been an option team under head coach Jim Grobe during his six seasons. Passing has been only something that is expected of the players in the classroom, not a part of the offense.

But Grobe plans to change that image and style this season, and he wants Taylor as part of the offensive scheme.

Taylor, a redshirt freshman wide receiver from Ironton High School, can only smile at the thought the Bobcats are actually going to throw the football and that he is going to be a part of it.

"Spring ball set the pace for the season. I’m not going to be a spectator. I’ll be starting," Taylor said of Saturday’s season opener at Iowa State. "We can throw, we just have to mix it in. If we can put in that combination, we’ll be pretty effective," Taylor said.

A freak foot injury last season prior to the opening game at Indiana forced Taylor to remain at home and he was eventually redshirted. Taylor admitted the year off gave him a chance to improve his game and adjust to college football.

‘The biggest thing is the speed of the game and the size of the players and their abilities," Taylor said. "Not just a few players have ability, but they all do and they all stand out.

"I messed up my first couple of weeks, but then I got it down. It’s a little complicated at first, but once we got into it, I knew what I was doing."

Pass defense in college is different than at the high school level. High schools play a mix of man-to-man and zone defense, but the coverage isn’t anything like the high school game.

"In high school, you never see bump-and-run. Now, 70 percent of the teams play bump-and-run," said Taylor. "Technique is not hard, but being able to adjust is hard. The thing that helped me out a lot was my jumping ability."

An outstanding leaper, Taylor was fourth in the state in the Division II state meet in the high jump at Ironton.

While 6-foot-5 is the highest leap Taylor had in high school, he cleared 6-10 to place fifth in the Mid-American Conference championships last spring.

The school record is 7-2, and Taylor grinned when the mark was mentioned. "I’m going for the school record one day."

Mixing track and spring football may not be acceptable at some schools, but Taylor said the Ohio coaches have been very receptive to his attempts to assist the track team.

"I might do a little running this year. My time was in the 4.4 (seconds) range. The (football) coaches said if you can help the track team, you can run track just as long as it doesn’t interfere with football during its three days a week," Taylor said.

The game will be aired on FOX-FM 107.1 radio and Fox Sports Ohio.