Tyrod Taylor

Tyrod Taylor (born August 3, 1989) is an American football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He was the starting quarterback for the Virginia Tech Hokies football team from the start of the 2008 college football season until the 2011 Orange Bowl, the final game of the 2010 college football season for Virginia Tech.

High school career
At Hampton High School, Taylor led the team as quarterback, while also becoming the team's kick returner and safety. During his three years as starter, he led the team to a 34-4 record. He accumulated 7,690 yards of offense and scored 100 total touchdowns. He passed for 5,144 yards and 44 touchdowns, while rushing for 2,546 yards and 56 scores.

When Tyrod graduated from Hampton in 2007, he was rated as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback at Rivals.com. ESPN.com rated him the No. 3 overall quarterback, while Scout.com said he's the nation's seventh-best passer. Taylor, who is 6'-1" and 200 pounds, ran a 4.55-second 40 yard dash.

Taylor narrowed his final two choices down to Virginia Tech and the University of Florida, and eventually chose to attend Virginia Tech.

Freshman year
During Taylor's freshman year, he shared time for most of the season with the junior quarterback Sean Glennon.

His first action of college football came in the game against the LSU Tigers on September 8, 2007. In that game, Taylor completed 7 of 18 passes for 62 yards, rushed for 44 yards on nine attempts including his first collegiate touchdown. After that game, Tyrod was named the starter by head coach Frank Beamer. In his first collegiate start against Ohio University, Tyrod threw for 287 yards, adding a rushing touchdown.

One of Taylor's early accolades was rushing for 92 yards and a touchdown as well as passing for 204 yards and 2 touchdowns in leading Virginia Tech to its first victory against Florida State in two decades. The win was the first ever for Frank Beamer against FSU coach Bobby Bowden.

On October 13, in the second quarter of a game against Duke University, Taylor suffered a high ankle sprain which forced him to miss two games. Taylor returned in a game at Georgia Tech, but did not start for the rest of the season and rotated time with starter Sean Glennon.

Throughout the season, he accumulated 1,356 total yards, including 927 passing and 429 rushing. He completed 72 of 134 passing attempts, for a completion percentage of 53.7. He scored 11 touchdowns during the year, five passing and six rushing.

Sophomore year
Coming into the 2008 Season, Taylor was intended to be redshirted. After Virginia Tech's loss to East Carolina University though, his redshirt was taken off due to Tech's need for more offense. Taylor's first appearance of the season came in the second game of the season against Furman, where he rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown. His first sophomore start came in the following week vs. Georgia Tech.

After starting every game of the 2008 season leading up to the Florida State game on October 25, Tyrod suffered a high ankle sprain on the first play of the VT-FSU game. Sean Glennon relieved Taylor at the quarterback position after this setback. While Glennon got the start versus Miami, Taylor split time with Glennon and lead a crucial fourth quarter to make it a two point game 16-14. However, he was sacked in a crucial 4th and 3 with less than two minutes to go. After the loss, Taylor started against Duke. After committing 5 turnovers in the first half, he was pulled from the game and replaced by Sean Glennon. Taylor then started next week at UVA. He performed well including a 73 yard run. He threw 12 for 18 for 137 yards 1 touchdown while rushing 16 times for 137 yards. He then started in the ACC Championship Game win over Boston College and was named the ACC Championship Game MVP. On January 1 he led his team to the Orange Bowl.

Junior year
During his Junior season, Taylor lead the Hokies to a 9-3 regular season record and a 2nd place finish in the Coastal Division of the ACC. The Hokies played the Tennessee Volunteers in the 2009 Chick-fil-A Bowl and won 37-14, finishing with a final record of 10-3. After climbing as high as 4th in the rankings, Tech lost back to back games against Georgia Tech and North Carolina, but finished the season ranked 10th in both the AP and USA Today Top 25 polls. Taylor holds a 23-5 career record at Virginia Tech, which is the second most wins of all time for a starting quarterback at Virginia Tech.

Senior year


Taylor's senior season began with two heartbreaking losses to Boise State at FedExField and at home to Division I-FCS James Madison. Taylor was 15-of-22 for 186 yards and two touchdowns, along with 73 yards on the ground, against Boise State, but was unable to respond following a Broncos score with 1:03 remaining. However, Taylor ultimately lead the Hokies to a remarkable turnaround season, winning 11 in a row after the 0-2 start. The 2010 Hokies became the first ACC team to finish with an undefeated 8-0 record in ACC play in 10 years. They became ACC Champions for the 4th time in 7 seasons in the ACC with a 44-33 win over Florida State in the 2010 ACC Championship Game in Charlotte. Taylor finished the regular season as ACC Player of the Year and ACC Championship Game Most Valuable Player.

Taylor participated in the 2011 East-West Shrine Game. He completed four of his five passes for 59 yards.

College stats

 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! rowspan=2 | Year !! rowspan=2 | G !! rowspan=2 | GS !! colspan=7 | Passing !! colspan=4 | Rushing ! Comp !! Att !! Yds !! TD !! Int !! Pct !! Eff !! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! TD *Single season school record ^School career record
 * 2007 || 11 || 5 || 72 || 134 || 927 || 5 || 3 || 53.7 || 119.7 || 102 || 429 || 4.2 || 6
 * 2008 || 12 || 10 || 99 || 173 || 1036 || 2 || 7 || 57.2 || 103.3 || 147 || 738 || 5.0 || 7
 * 2009 || 13 || 13 || 136 || 243 || 2311 || 13 || 5 || 56.0 || 149.4 || 106 || 370 || 3.5 || 5
 * 2010 || 14 || 14 || 188 || 315 || 2743 || 24* || 5 || 59.7 || 154.8 || 146 || 403 || 2.8 || 5
 * -style="background-color: #eee;"
 * Career || 50 || 42 || 495 || 865 || 7,017^ || 44 || 20 || 57.2 || 137.5 || 501 || 1,940^ || 3.9 || 23^
 * }
 * Current
 * -style="background-color: #eee;"
 * Career || 50 || 42 || 495 || 865 || 7,017^ || 44 || 20 || 57.2 || 137.5 || 501 || 1,940^ || 3.9 || 23^
 * }
 * Current

Baltimore Ravens
Taylor was drafted in Round 6 with the 180th pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. He orchestrated the game winning touchdown drive in preseason week 3. He hit Brandon Jones for a 9 yard touchdown pass with 37 seconds remaining. He served as the backup quarterback behind Joe Flacco.

From Atlanta, in his 1st career start (exhibition preseason week 4), Tyrod Taylor left the Ravens’ exhibition finale with a shoulder bruise Thursday night, potentially putting a crimp in the team's quarterback plans. Early tests revealed no separation and the rookie's injury was characterized as a contusion.

Taylor had his first regular season playing time on December 4, 2011 in a victory against the Cleveland Browns. He had one rush for a two yard gain. He would appear as well on December 18 and throw his first ever regular season pass, a completion for 18 yards. He also lined up as a wide receiver for one play against the Indianapolis Colts.

On December 30, 2012 in Week 17 of the 2012 NFL season against the Cincinnati Bengals, Flacco was rested during the 4th quarter, offering Taylor decent playing time. During the 4th quarter of that game, Taylor would score his 1st career touchdown on a 1 yard QB bootleg. However, Taylor also threw a crucial interception to Carlos Dunlap that would be returned for a touchdown. The Ravens would lose the game against the Bengals 23-17. Taylor got his first championship title as the Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII over the 49ers.