Michael Taylor (born September 21, 1949) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1969 to 1971 and was a consensus All-American in 1971. He played two seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

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

in 1972 and 1973. He also played for the

Detroit Wheels The Detroit Wheels were an American football team, a charter member of the defunct World Football League. Founding Soon after Gary Davidson announced the WFL's formation in October 1973, he was approached by a man named Bud Hucul about putting ...

in the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

in 1974.

Early years

Taylor was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, Michigan, in 1949. He attended Martin Luther King High School in Detroit.

University of Michigan

Taylor enrolled at the

in 1968 and played

for head coach Bo Schembechler's

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

teams from 1969 to 1971. He made 117

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

and 63 assists in three years at Michigan, including 64 tackles and 33 assists in 1971. He was a consensus first-team linebacker on the

1971 College Football All-America Team The 1971 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1971. The National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

. In 2005, Taylor was selected as one of the 100 greatest Michigan football players of all time by the "Motown Sports Revival," ranking 89th on the all-time team.

Professional football

Taylor was selected by the

in the 1st round (20th overall pick) of the

1972 NFL Draft The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Player selections Round one Round two ...

. During the

1972 New York Jets season The 1972 New York Jets season was the 13th season for the team and the third in the National Football League. It began with the team trying to improve upon its 6–8 record from 1971 under head coach Weeb Ewbank. The Jets star quarterback Joe Nam ...

, Taylor appeared as a linebacker in 14 games, five as a starter, and had one interception. In 1973, Taylor appeared in eight games, three as a starter, for the Jets. In March 1974, he was selected by the

in the first round (6th overall) of the WFL Pro Draft. In May 1974, Taylor signed a multi-year contract with the Wheels of the

. The Wheels' head coach,

Dan Boisture Daniel P. Boisture Jr. (February 22, 1925 – May 18, 2007) was an American football coach. He was the head coach of the Eastern Michigan Eagles football team from 1967 to 1973, compiling a record of 45–20–3. Boisture was a star athlete in ...

, said Taylor would be "the focal point of our defense."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Mike 1949 births Living people All-American college football players American football linebackers Michigan Wolverines football players New York Jets players Detroit Wheels players Players of American football from Detroit

Early years

University of Michigan

Professional football

See also

References