Leading Man : Inside Linebacker Taylor Plays Key Role for CSUN Defense

Terrell Taylor, Cal State Northridge’s man in the middle, might as well be wearing a bull’s-eye on his chest.

Every play he seemingly is the target for a hostile fullback or lineman. Their goal: to turn Mr. Taylor, No. 13 in your program, No. 1 on the Matador tackle chart, into a 6-foot-2, 220-pound divot.

The faint of heart need not apply at inside linebacker. It can be a daunting position even when behemoth blockers miss on their charge.

“Say you’re running and you don’t see them, but for some reason they just miss you,” Taylor said. “The wind you feel when they go by is enormous. It’s power. It’s like, ‘Somebody was just trying to kill me a second ago.’ ”

Even minor jolts can hurt when delivered by men with 22-inch biceps.

“Little elbow points that hit you when they skate by? It’s pain,” Taylor said. “You just say, ‘My goodness, these guys are serious.’ ”

None, however, are any more so than Taylor, Northridge’s resident film star.

If one thinks that Chuck Norris elicits grunts and groans on the big screen, one should hear the reaction in CSUN’s film room when Taylor leaves the imprint of his face mask in the chest of a running back. Talk about making a lasting impression.

Bob Burt, Northridge’s coach, recalls one hit worthy of a rerun. “It was like the next-to-last play against Portland State. They threw to No. 24 and Terrell just took him out of there,” Burt said.

For the record, Don Finkbonner wears No. 24 for Portland and he gained five yards--about the same distance he traveled airborne after Taylor smacked him as he tried to make his way down the sideline.

Taylor, a senior, leads Northridge with 47 tackles and he also has left his mark in several other categories. He has three tackles for losses, one sack, a fumble recovery, two interceptions and four pass deflections.

He is even busy between plays, calling signals for CSUN’s very un-Matador-like defense, which is rated among the nation’s best.

“Terrell is the leader of the defense,” Burt said. Taylor relishes the role. “I’ve wanted to be the signal-caller ever since I can remember,” Taylor said. “When I’m talking in the huddle, everyone else has to shut up. I get to take over. It makes me feel like the boss and that makes me play harder because you know everybody is watching you.”

A year ago, Taylor was the one doing most of the watching. At the start of the season, he was temporarily ineligible while waiting for a makeup grade to be recorded. After being ineligible for the first game, he played mostly on special teams before gradually earning more playing time as backup to inside linebacker Rod Wilson.

It was a frustrating time. “I felt like I was just as good as the rest of the guys, but my being late. . . . Once you play a game with people, everybody gets into a little groove and they get comfortable playing with whoever is next to them,” Taylor said. “That hurt, plus I didn’t know the pass defense. And in this conference, you cannot play without knowing the pass defense.”

In hindsight, Burt concedes that Northridge probably started the wrong linebacker much of last season.

“He’s an example for a lot of guys who may not play as much as they think they should as juniors,” Burt says. “When they get their chance, they need to make the most of it. This season was his chance.”

Taylor established himself early this time, putting a hold on a starting position during spring practice. But the same work ethic that placed him in that position almost kept him from staying in it.

Back home in Atlanta for the summer, Taylor was weight-training twice a day. Then he tried to do a little too much in a squat lift and pulled a back muscle.

“I was trying to impress some of the girls,” Taylor said. “These bodybuilders were there and they were acting like the weight was so heavy and I was like, ‘Oh, I can play with that.’ I went out there and played with it, but I also hurt myself.”

Taylor was unable to do much training during the last month of the summer, but he kept his starting job anyway.

Tonight at 7, Taylor once again is back in familiar terrority--this time showing off his team. Northridge, 6-1 and ranked ninth in Division II, will meet Santa Clara (5-3) in a Western Football Conference game at Buck Shaw Stadium, only a short distance from where Taylor played junior college football at San Jose City College.

Taylor is among 12 players on Northridge’s traveling squad returning to Northern California where they played in junior colleges before signing with the Matadors.

“We seem to have a harder time getting a kid out of Pierce or Valley than we do out of Contra Costa or San Jose,” Burt said. “It’s the old ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ thing.”

Burt credits several Bay Area products from past seasons for spreading a good word. “Guys who are happy with their situation go back and tell other guys,” Burt said.

Taylor was helped along the way to CSUN by Clayton Bamberg, a former San Jose teammate who starts at strong safety. Taylor had his heart set on playing at the Division I level, but when Northridge’s scholarship offer was the only one offered on signing day, he took it.

Now he finds he has come full circle.

“I’ve talked to guys at JCs and they’re like, ‘Northridge, huh? A Division II school. . . .’ They look down on you, but they just don’t know. This is serious ball.”

Take it from the man in the middle.