Darius Taylor took the handoff and ran parallel to the line, scanning for an opening. The Illinois defense sniffed out the third-down play, which seemed destined to end in a tackle for loss.
Taylor wasn’t fazed. He planted his foot and darted upfield, turning nothing into something positive — a 7-yard gain for a first down that extended the drive and led to a field goal in the Gophers’ 25-17 road victory last Saturday.
That single run highlighted traits that make Taylor a special talent as a true sophomore running back. Patience, vision, balance, burst.
“On that play, I was setting it up,” Taylor said Wednesday in a conversation at the athletic facility. “I was stretching out the defense for a second and waiting for that opportunity to make that cutback. I felt a guy coming off my back side, so I had to speed it up. That’s why it looked so drastic. There was a guy chasing me from behind.”
Taylor eluded Illini tacklers time and again by relying on two skills that are putting Big Ten defenses in a bind: cutback runs and catches out of the backfield.
The emergence of Taylor as a viable receiving option in the new-look Gophers offense has made him one of the most versatile running backs in college football. He ranks top 10 in the Big Ten in eight statistical categories and 20th nationally in yards from scrimmage.
The Gophers program has produced a string of elite running backs over the past quarter-century. Each had a style that was exceptional and identifiable. Laurence Maroney’s explosiveness, Marion Barber III’s power, David Cobb’s toughness, Mohamed Ibrahim’s stamina.
Taylor’s hallmark is his vision in finding creases amid a mass of bodies colliding in front of him.