The Diary of Benjamin Taylor

[A_True_Fan]

Game: NCAA '09
Settings: Heisman
Sliders: Edited, in favor of CPU







Hey there. My name is Benjamin Taylor. I’m a senior here at Central High School, just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. I will be keeping a blog of my times here at Central. I play quarterback for our football team, and hopefully, will be leading us into the playoffs this year!

I guess I should tell you a little bit more about my family. My mom and dad are both professors at the local university, Tennessee State University. We live about five minutes away from the campus, and I’ve grown up around the school. My family is strict Catholics, so other than MTSU, we cheer for Notre Dame. Go Irish!

Central High is a pretty good school. It’s an academic school mostly, but we have a really good football team this year. Right now, we are 7-0! We play in a lower division – 1A – so we don’t get a lot of publicity or recruiters coming to our games. I’m hoping that I can do enough to get some Division 1 offers. Dad thinks I should play at MTSU, even if I don’t get a scholarship and have to walk-on. I don’t know what I want to do, but it’s still early in the process…Right now, I’m just going to concentrate on my schoolwork, and of course, winning some more football games !

[A_True_Fan]

Hey, it’s been a bit since I’ve written. Just thought I’d update on what has been going on.

We start the 1A playoffs tomorrow night. We are one of the top seeds, and are hoping to stay undefeated. Personally, I’ve been playing pretty well this year. It’s only my second year at quarterback, but I’ve been able to do some pretty good things. Coach considers me a “dual threat” – but I don’t run like Michael Vick or Pat White or anything. I tend to only run when I have to, and these playoffs may make if more often than I want.

As for the recruiting process, it’s been kinda slow. I’ve had some offers from the likes of Alabama State, and Murray State, and some other lower division schools, but I’m still holding out that maybe a Division 1 school somewhere will offer me a scholarship. I have talked to the coaches over at MTSU a couple of times, and they have said that they would love to have me walk on, and compete, but they haven’t officially given me any official scholarship offering yet. Maybe I can help change that with a good showing tomorrow night. I know one thing, though; we have to keep winning against better quality opponents so these recruiters get a chance to get a good look at me….


Well, I'll write again after our opener. Let's go Central Tigers!

[A_True_Fan]

Well, we won our first playoff game. McMinville was tough, but we ended up pulling away and winning 28-6. I threw 2 TD passes and ran for another, and felt like I played pretty good overall. I don’t know if I did enough tonight to make MTSU change their mind, or for any of the other schools to make me an offer, but we’ll see…



Here's a shot of me racing down the sideline for a big gain....



And here's another of me throwing the deep post pattern.

I'll write again after our next game. We play Severville, who is supposed to be pretty good....

[A_True_Fan]

Just got done with our second playoff game. Sevierville had us against the ropes all night. Chris Collins, our starting RB, had fumbled twice in the game, and we were in a 21-10 hole going into the fourth quarter. The good news, though, is that somehow, we pulled it out! I threw for 2 TD’s in the fourth quarter, and we held on to win, 24-21. I’m so pumped! Two more victories and we are state champions! Maybe that’ll turn some heads!:

This is my first score of the game, a long TD run. We ran the option to the right, and I cut up the field, when I saw an opening...


It looked like their safety was going to bring me down, but i gave him a bit of a juke:


And then beat him down the sideline for an early score....


We play Brentwood this week. I hope we can win and make the Championship Game!

[A_True_Fan]

Hey. Well, our semi-final game against Brentwood was a tight, defensive battle! We ended up winning 17-14. I played pretty okay – I threw for a TD pass early, but we were pretty much bottled up most of the game. I asked Dad if he thought many scouts were at the game, but he told me not to worry about it. “MTSU is going to come around, son. You will be a Blue Raider one way or another, either by scholarship or walk-on.” Oh well. Hopefully, Dad knows I still haven’t made up my mind. MTSU is great and all, but I’d like to get out on my own somewhere, too….

Not a lot of shots from today's game, but here's me throwing the deep out pattern. Most of the coaches I talk to say that my arm strength is their biggest concern. To play at a good D1 program, I've got to hit the weights, and learn to throw that out pattern on a rope. No lofting it out there, or it'll be picked for sure...

[A_True_Fan]

The state championship game is tonight! We play Trousdale County, who is the #1 team in the state. They are big and mean, and I think their D-line outweighs our O-line by like thirty pounds a player. Man, I hope we can slow them down….

[A_True_Fan]

Hey. Well, we lost. No state championship. Trousdale beat us 12-10, and it really didn’t feel that close. I made a couple really dumb decisions in the game, like getting sacked for a safety, which turned out to be the difference in the game. They got up 12-0 on us, and though we fought back, and kicked a field goal early in the fourth quarter to get within 2, we just didn’t have it in us to come back and pull off the upset.

Here's me about to get hammered for the safety. They just had more guys coming than we had blockers, and I didn't get rid of the ball in time.



I was really being pressured most of the game, and never felt comfortable back there in the pocket. I never had my feet set, like this pass here:




Now that high school football is over for me, I will really focus in on this recruiting business, and try to find that perfect school for me. I know that there is one out there, and I'll make a difference on someone's roster!

[hockeyplaya2724]

This is really good I can't wait to see what college you go to