James "Jay" Taylor (born October 23, 1976) is a former American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

kicker. He played collegiately for the West Virginia Mountaineers.

High school years

Taylor attended Hershey High School in Hershey, Pennsylvania and starred in

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and tennis. In football, he was an All-Conference selection.

College career

Taylor attended West Virginia University and was a student and a four-year letterman in

. Taylor played both kicker and punter in his four-year career from 1996 to 1999. In his sophomore season in 1997, Taylor kicked a career-long 52-yard

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

against Pittsburgh in the

Backyard Brawl The Backyard Brawl is an American college football rivalry between the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia University Mountaineers. The term "Backyard Brawl" has also been used to refer to college basketball games played ann ...

. Against Ohio State, as a junior in 1998, Taylor punted for a career-high 410 yards. Against Virginia Tech that same season, Taylor had a career-long 63-yard punt.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

Jay Taylor was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Miami Dolphins in 2000. Taylor was cut shortly afterwards.

Orlando Rage

He was selected by the Orlando Rage of the XFL in the

2001 XFL Draft The 2001 XFL Draft was the only draft for the first-iteration XFL football league. The draft took place over a three-day time period from October 28 to October 30, 2000, during which time a total of 475 players were selected by the league's 8 teams ...

, where he played both kicker and punter.

Buffalo Bills

After the XFL season ended, the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

signed him to the preseason roster, primarily as a punter. He lost the competition to Brian Moorman and was waived during the preseason.

Rhein Fire

In 2003, he played for the Rhein Fire of

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

, allocated from the Cleveland Browns.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

He was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

in 2004 and was activated by the Bucs that year, playing in 5 games.

Orlando Predators

After being cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2005, Taylor was signed by the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League on June 30, 2006. Taylor entered the 2008 season as the franchise leader in single-season field goal percentage, career field goal percentage, single-season extra point percentage, career extra point percentage, consecutive extra points made, and consecutive field goals made. He also won the 2004 Kicker of the Year award with the Predators.

References

External links

Orlando Predators profile

Profile at ArenaFan

http://browns.scout.com/a.z?s=149&p=8&c=1&nid=610803 Brown's profile at Scout.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Jay 1976 births Living people People from Hershey, Pennsylvania American football placekickers American football punters West Virginia Mountaineers football players Orlando Rage players Rhein Fire players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Orlando Predators players