Stepfan Christopher Lee Taylor (born June 9, 1991) 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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. 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 ...

for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, and became Stanford's all-time career leader in rushing yards and touchdowns. He was drafted by the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

in the fifth round of the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

High school

Taylor rushed for a Mansfield High School (Texas) school career record of 4,792 yards and 67 rushing touchdowns during his 3-year varsity career while also lettering in basketball. He graduated from Mansfield High School as part of the class of 2009.

College career

Taylor received an athletic scholarship to attend

, where he played for coach

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh (; born December 23, 1963) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current and 20th head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986. He play ...

and coach David Shaw's

Stanford Cardinal football The Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference's North Division. The team is known as the Stanford Cardinal, Cardinal, adopted pri ...

teams from 2009 to 2012.

2009 season

During his freshman season, Taylor backed up Heisman contender

Toby Gerhart Tobin Bo Gunnar Gerhart (born March 28, 1987) is a former American football running back. He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football for Stanford University, and was a unanimous ...

. Taylor rushed for 303 yards and 2 touchdowns.

2010 season

As a sophomore, Taylor won the starting running back position. He became the sixth player in Stanford history to rush for over 1,000 yards. He rushed for 1,137 yards and 15 touchdowns, while catching 28 passes for 226 yards and 1 touchdown. Taylor had 7 100-yard games, including 5 consecutive 100-yard games. He tied a school record with 4 rushing touchdowns against Arizona. Taylor ran for 114 yards in Stanford's Orange Bowl victory.

2011 season

As a junior, Taylor recorded his second consecutive 1,000 yard season. He rushed for 1,330 yards and 10 touchdowns, while catching 25 passes for 182 yards and 2 touchdowns. Taylor's 1,330 yards were the second highest rushing total in Stanford history. Taylor's biggest game of the year came when he ran for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Fiesta Bowl.

2012 season

Taylor led Stanford to the Pac-12 championship and a victory in the Rose Bowl by rushing for 1,530 yards and 13 touchdowns. Taylor become Stanford's all-time career leader in rushing with 4,300 yards, breaking Darrin Nelson's 31-year-old school record of 4,169 yards. Taylor also set a school record with 45 career touchdowns. He ran for 100 or more yards in 8 of the 12 regular season games. Taylor was second on the team in receptions with 41 catches for 287 yards, with 2 touchdown catches. In Week 3 of the season, Taylor was named the Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week and Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in # 20 Stanford's upset of the # 2

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

in which he rushed 27 times for 153 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 60 yards and a score. He ran for a career-high 189 yards against Cal to lead Stanford to a 21-3 victory in the 115th Big Game. On November 17, Taylor ran for 161 yards in Stanford's upset victory over # 1 Oregon in Eugene. The following week, Taylor won the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week award again for his performance against UCLA, when he ran for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns while playing only two and a half quarters. He broke Nelson's career rushing record and tied Gerhart's career touchdown record in the Pac-12 championship game against UCLA. Taylor was named the Offensive Player of the Game in the Rose Bowl after rushing for 88 yards and a touchdown.

Statistics

Awards and honors

* 2013 Rose Bowl Offensive Player of the Game * 2012 Second-team All-America (Athlon), Third-team All-America (CBSsports.com, Lindy's) * 2012

Doak Walker Award Since 1990 the Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. It is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Football Le ...

semi-finalist * 2012 Second-team All-

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Offensive Player of the Week, two times (September 17, 2012; November 26, 2012) * 2012 Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week (week ending September 16, 2012) * 2012 Stanford Cardinal MVP (Irving S. Zeimer Award) * 2011 Second-team All-

* 2010 Honorable Mention All-Pac-10

Records

Stanford career records * Most career rushing yards (4,300) * Most career touchdowns (45) * Most career 100 yard rushing games (21) * Most 1,000 yard rushing seasons (3) (tied) Stanford single game records * Most rushing touchdowns in a game (4) (tied)

Professional career

Taylor was selected by the

in the fifth round, 140th overall, in the

. Taylor played sparingly in 2013, as he was behind

Andre Ellington Andre DeAngelo Ellington (born February 3, 1989) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Clemson and was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the sixth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. High school career Ellington ...

and

Rashard Mendenhall Rashard Jamal Mendenhall (born June 19, 1987) is a former American football running back and current television writer who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons. He played college football at Illinois and was drafted by th ...

on the depth chart. He finished his rookie season with 115 yards on 36 carries (3.2 avg), while catching 8 passes for 71 yards. Taylor had an increased role in the Arizona offense in 2014, taking on the no. 2 spot behind Ellington. Due to an unhealthy Ellington, Taylor started four games and racked up four touchdowns (one rushing, three receiving) in 2014. Taylor played sporadically in 2015, being at the bottom of the depth chart in a running back group that featured not only Andre Ellington, but now pro bowler Chris Johnson and rookie sensation David Johnson. In 2015, he had career lows in rushing attempts (17) and rushing yards (58), while putting up one reception for four yards and no touchdowns.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

Stanford profile

ESPN profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Stepfan 1991 births Living people American football running backs Stanford Cardinal football players Sportspeople from Arlington, Texas Players of American football from Texas People from Mansfield, Texas Arizona Cardinals players