Michael Taylor (born September 21, 1949) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

from 1969 to 1971 and was a consensus

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

in 1971. He played two seasons in 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

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 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...

in 1974.

Early years

Taylor was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, 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 Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American college football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the Univers ...

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 List of NCAA football teams by wins, most all-time wins in college football ...

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 tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

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 Ass ...

. 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 the 37th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft was held on February 1 and 2 at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overal ...

. 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