The Notorious Taybor Pepper
Just as his name would suggest, Taybor Pepper is a complete badass.
As soon as our Zoom call connected, I was in awe of the 26-year-old’s setup: the hanging podcast microphone and noise-cancelling headphones put my scene to shame. Visually, Pepper stood out in his orange hoodie paired with a genuine smile.
He’s a pretty colourful dude on the surface with a rainbow personality, too.
After spending nearly an hour chatting with the 49ers long snapper, it was clear that he’s not only vibrant; he’s basically the Conor McGregor of special teams.
Ironically enough, McGregor is someone Pepper draws daily inspiration from. As “unorthodox” as his choice may be, The Notorious has always been his sports hero.
“I love his cockiness. I try to bring that to my game, which it's hard to as long snapper,” Pepper said. “But it's more of the supreme confidence that he has in himself more than the cockiness that he shows with fur coats and money and jewellery.”
Side note: I wore a [faux] fur vest for our interview. Did we just become best friends? Yup.
Pepper channelled his inner McGregor prior to every work out. If you don’t believe me, go check his Twitter feed. You’ll have to dig, though.
“Anytime I had a workout with a team, the morning of I would post a picture of Conor McGregor. That was my version of…going into the octagon and getting ready to fight.”
Like McGregor, most of us with crazy aspirations are the Drizzy’s of this world. We started from the bottom and hope to eventually be “here.”
For Pepper, San Francisco is now his here.
But it was an adventure to get there, to say the least. From flag football in elementary school, to long snapping camp in Oklahoma, to nearly hanging up his cleats in high school.
Thankfully when Pepper moved to Michigan, he stuck with the sport for an unusual reason.
“I needed friends and the football team had the most amount of people on it," he said. "So I mean, honestly, I hated the fact that we had to move to Michigan for the longest time. But when I finally came to terms with I wouldn't be where I am today had we not moved to Michigan, then it's a lot easier to think about.”
The move not only kept Taybor snapping. He also met his fiancé, Haley, in his new stomping grounds. In fact, she was one of the first 10 people he encountered in Michigan. They were friends for over a decade and started dating three years ago.
Last year in Miami, Pepper popped the question after a nail-biter against the Bengals. Cincinnati had overcome a 17-point deficit to force OT and all he could think about on the sidelines was “Oh my god, we’re going to miss our reservations.”
A Dolphins’ game-winning field goal and 25 texts from his mom later, Pepper still pulled off the proposal—don’t worry.
Before our interview, Pepper’s dad, Cam, messaged me on Twitter to see if the whole thing would be streamed. I took the opportunity to ask for some insight on his son, who was the lost city of Atlantis as I sifted through Google for interesting facts on the deep snapper.
Cam had always wondered how he worked through his ups and downs over the past four years since he graduated from Michigan State. Put simply, Taybor wasn’t really a 9-to-5 kind of guy. And despite years of tryouts and competing for a roster spot, he never gave up on his ultimate goal of playing—and staying—in the NFL.
“Knowing I had the ability is what kept me going the most.”
In other words, quitting was never an option for Pepper.
“Every opportunity in my head I was like, ‘I'm a little bit closer.’ Every time I get brought into a team, the wire goes out and everybody sees I got worked out…it solidified in my brain like yeah, okay, this is a real possibility. And there's a ton of guys that came out of college the same time as me who they're working finance. They're accountants. They're firefighters. I just knew it was kind of an attrition thing. I knew I would break these coaches down; eventually they have to sign me.”
On September 30th, the San Francisco 49ers did just that. And it felt “really good.”
“I performed really well on most of my workouts. But the last 49ers’ one—the one that I got signed at—I came away with it. After I snapped my last snap, I said to myself, ‘If that wasn't enough to get signed, I don't know what is.’”
Now in the company of San Francisco's kicker Robbie Gould, who has quickly become his mentor, Pepper leans on Robbie’s “little veteran nuggets” to keep him grounded in the game.
Just like the quarterback position, long snapping can be very mental.
“We can't ride the motions of a game too much. Like when there's a pick six for us. And we run it all the way back and score touchdown…I can't be, ah jazzed up like sprinting onto the field,” Pepper exclaimed. “Because then I have to collect myself, get in my stance, and then snap a ball. And you know, if you're over excited, things can go wrong. So it's more just like, alright, sick. Let's celebrate this after I snap the ball.
“You just gotta ride an even keel.”
When he’s not snapping, he’s probably building model figures or dancing. But he’ll never steal teammate Kendrick Bourne’s thunder when it comes to busting a move. In fact, he says KB would win a dance off 1,000/1,000 times.
However, Pepper did catch the eye of Kansas City Chiefs running back Le'Veon Bell back in university.
“Bell was a junior when I was a freshman at Michigan State. And uh…” Pepper let out a hearty laugh before he continued. “I think it was like middle of the season. He walks up to me and he goes—I had never spoken to him before because at that point, he was like, really taken off like he was stud running back that year. He graduated early after that season—he walks up to me and he goes, ‘You that white boy that's dancing at all the parties?’”
We both laughed.
Pepper’s smile is infectious, but his attitude is mesmerizing. For someone like me who is still riding my own rollercoaster of dreams, his words of persistence spoke to my soul.
And I’m certain his advice will help others who are just trying to achieve their version of making it into the NFL, too.
“If you 100% believe in yourself that you have the ability to achieve it, don't ever stop.”
Okay, he was a little harsh in his advice when he said some people should quit while they’re ahead (we all know the type he’s referring to). But if you have it, then don’t give up.
“If you have the supreme confidence in yourself that you know—not that you think you have the ability—you know you have the ability...then don't stop. And I had tons of people ask me ‘Okay, when are you hanging it up? I'm like, ‘I’m not. I'm not going to.’
“I was never going to.”
In a sometimes dull world, do yourself a favour and be a Taybor Pepper.
Because life is so much better in colour.
