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State Gazette Male Rookie of the Year for Dyer County High School: Dyer County Choctaw Korey Taylor
Monday, July 22, 2024
Dyer County Choctaw Korey Taylor
JASON PEEVYHOUSE
Though his impact came late during the Choctaws run to the TSSAA Class 4A State Quarterfinals, Choctaw freshman Korey Taylor did let the high school football world know he was there during the stretch run on the way to earning the State Gazette Male Rookie of the Year for Dyer County High School.
Getting on the field late in the season, Taylor was able to make the most of the time he had late in the season and through the playoffs according to Dyer County Head Coach David Whittle.
“He played sparingly until later in the year,” Whittle explained. “We kinda brought him on slow.
“Coming into the season, we didn’t want to put too much pressure on him.”
Whittle praised the freshman running back for how he attacked the defensive fronts.
“The biggest thing about him is he hits the hole as hard as any kid I’ve seen,” Whittle explained. “He gets vertical and hits the hole. He’s a fast kid and has really good vision.
“He really doesn’t need much of a hole to hit. When he hits it, he’s going to hit it full speed.”
The biggest strength for Taylor, according to Whittle, is the experience he gained during the late-season push and playoff run.
“It’s going to be a valuable experience for him coming into his sophomore year,” the Choctaw head coach said. “And, I will say this about Korey – I think he had over 100 yards rushing against Melrose in Memphis as a freshman. You would think he would be intimidated but he wasn’t intimidated at all.
“I think being in some big games like he’s been in is going to be big for him.”
With that said, Whittle continued to praise Taylor’s ability to hit the hole hard.
With feature back Ja’Bari Livingston entering his senior season in August, rising sophomore Taylor looks to be next in line. It has been a pattern in recent years for the Choctaws to have one running back heading into his senior season with another a couple years or more behind him ready to fill those shoes when given the opportunity.
“We’ve been blessed with some really good running backs over the last several years,” Whittle admitted. “And, we’ve got several this year that can run the ball.
A good problem to have is the way Whittle sums this up.
“When you have some really good backs, they can make things look better than they actually are,” Whittle pointed out. “They can make a coach look smarter than what they are, too.”
Through the course of the end of his freshman season in the gridiron, Whittle said he saw Taylor’s confidence grow.
“He came in there and started building some confidence,” the Choctaw head coach recalled. “When we played Crockett County, he carried the ball most of the way that night.
“He did a lot of really good things that night. The main thing was building that confidence.”
Heading into his sophomore season, Taylor will return to the backfield along with senior Livingston.
“We’ll have him and Ja’Bari in the backfield a lot together,” Whittle said. “We may slide one of them outside. Both of them can be pretty good out in space.
“We may line up with three backs in the backfield or we may line up with an empty backfield. He’s a very versatile kid who can do a lot of things.”
One thing stat sheets don’t show is Taylor’s ability to see the field.
“Being able to see the hole and hit the hole – squeezing through the hole,” Dyer County’s head coach explained. “He cuts really well. For a young man his age to see the hole and see what’s coming and being able to cut off it, it is pretty special.
“You just can’t teach that.”
Add in the ability to run pass plays in is direction to his running skills and, like Whittle said, Taylor has got all the tools that a player needs.