Former Husker Great Remembers Quality of Brotherhood

Aaron Taylor, a two-time All-American and three-time national champion, remembers switching from guard to center for the betterment of the team. He said the offensive line must be like a brotherhood to truly succeed every play.

Aaron Taylor was an All-American at two positions. | Nebraska Athletics

Aaron Taylor has attained just about everything an offensive lineman could accomplish at Nebraska. He was a three-time national champion and a two-time All-American.

Taylor was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2018. In October he will be inducted into the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame. His jersey has already been retired by the university in 1998.

Not only was Taylor a two-time All-American, but he was named to the teams playing two different positions. He played guard early in his career and was asked to slide over to center in 1996. He had some trepidations, but he was willing to do whatever was best for the team.

"It was 1996 and we ran the option. It was such a good offense, a fun offense," Taylor said on Sports Nightly on Huskers Radio Network. "It's more or less you take what the defense gives you. I was a guard and when you are a guard you are leading the play 60 percent of the time. I missed that.

"I decided to make the move to help the team, but it was quite a bit of an adjustment for me," Taylor said. "I couldn't wait to get back at guard, but it made me a better player."

Taylor went 49-2 during his run at Lincoln, and added the three national titles. He said the practices were more challenging, at that point, than the games on Saturdays.

"The practices were rough. They were worse than the games," Taylor said. "We saw a lot of 1-on-1's and we would run about 25-30 plays, good versus good. But, those practices on Tuesday and Wednesday got us ready for Saturday."

Taylor added they faced better competition during the week, than they did in most games.

"By the time we got to Saturday, we just didn't have the competition we had during the week," Taylor said. "The repetition helped out a lot with mental focus and there were not a lot of mental mistakes."

Taylor likes to volunteer advice to younger players and to meet with the new generations of Huskers that come through the program. Here is his advice for every player he meets.

"You have to make sure that all five guys on the line are like family. It's a brotherhood," Taylor said. "We were all real tight and I never forgot that.

"You didn't want to let down your teammates. The great ones always put team ahead of yourself."

He then gave his final piece of advice to all players.

"Go be nasty," Taylor said. "When you get on that field go be nasty."

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