Ageless Taylor is back for more

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By Patrick Stevens

The man who received a rare sixth year of eligibility knows his advanced years are completely in play in Maryland's football locker room.

Pops. Old Man. Grandpa. Cornerback Richard Taylor has heard just about everything since he was granted an extra season after losing nearly all of the past two years to knee injuries.

"Yeah, he's pretty old," said safety Jamari McCollough, himself a fifth-year senior. "He's about to turn, what, 25?"

Taylor isn't quite halfway to securing his AARP card, but he will celebrate his 24th birthday in November. And he hopes he can do so as a contributor for the Terrapins after a helter-skelter career that has featured nearly as much rehabilitation as time on the field.

All while plugging away as a federal government employee.

"I have a job," Taylor said last week while trying - unsuccessfully - to stifle his trademark mischievous cackle. "With benefits."

A one-time teammate of Domonique Foxworth and Shawne Merriman who entered Maryland a semester early, Taylor earned a degree in communications in 2007 and wrapped up a master's in real estate development in May.

His juggling act during the season will not be easy. He plans to commute four days a week to the Department of Transportation, where he was recently hired as a realty specialist. After a shift beginning at 6 a.m., he'll rush to College Park for football practice and another slice of a bonus season he's doing his best to savor.

"I have approached it in a different way," Taylor said. "I think in past years I've had as much talent or more talent than maybe some of the guys who have played and gone on to other things. But I put so much pressure on myself that I wasn't having any fun and I wasn't playing to my top ability. You have to play loose."

You also need to play healthy, which was Taylor's primary impediment during what were supposed to be the prime years of his career. In April 2007, he tore the ACL in his left knee, setting off rehab that cost him a season.