Gophers football’s leading rusher, Darius Taylor, shows growth in leadership this spring

Per Marcus:

Three years ago, Darius Taylor really got to see what life would be like with the Gophers football program when he visited the week of the spring game.

Taylor met with head coach P.J. Fleck, who had a lengthy conversation about what the U’s future starting tailback should expect when he joined the team.

That helped Taylor stay firmly committed to the Gophers — something that hasn’t changed to this day.
But as a veteran this spring, Taylor’s in a different role, making sure newcomers in the running back room are as comfortable as he was before becoming one of the top rushers in the Big Ten.

“The biggest thing is how I practiced this offseason,” Taylor said. “I made it my mission to go as hard as I can and not take any days off. Learning to just lead by example. In the running back room, the biggest thing is nobody can look at me and say, ‘Darius took this play off, so I can take one off.’ ”

Taylor also understands better than he did as a freshman that being the starter doesn’t just mean carrying the load on game days. It means approaching every day focused on leading by being consistent.

“It’s holding up that standard,” Taylor said. “That’s something that I’d make a mistake and slip up on when I first got here. But now the biggest thing is holding the standard and sticking to it.”


Go Gophers!!

Hold up the Standard! Love it.

Love it.....Mo approached things with a similar mentality. This is what Fleck means when he talks about a player led team. If the stars are bought in and putting in the work it trickles down and makes everyone else work hard as well.