Florida Football Recruiting: Kelvin Taylor Commits, Confirms That We Are Old

Every so often in my battle against semi-adulthood, I come to the realization that I am actually growing up and there's nothing I can do to stop it. This appears to be one of those unfortunate moments.   

The Florida Gators secured a commitment from Kelvin Taylor—the son of NFL great Fred Taylor—at their junior day last Saturday. Yes, Fred Taylor’s son will soon be a part of your Saturday afternoon spectating, which is surprising, terrifying and oh-crap-we’ve-gotten-old.

I remember when Fred Taylor attempted to juke a defender back in 2001 and, in the process, tore his groin away from the bone. This is not an attempt at a gratuitous groin-pull metaphor—his groin was literally not where a groin is supposed to be.

Taylor simply let go of the football on that play, and collapsed to the turf in a great deal of pain. No one knew the extent of the damage at the time, but even my pet goldfish knew there was plenty. 

It’s one of those slow-mo replays that you will never forget, much like Willis McGahee’s knee injury in the national championship game, and everyone with a “Y” chromosome could feel their groin tense up in sympathy (good luck finding a segment with more “groin” references than this one).

I was 16 when Taylor went down for the season in 2001, and this injury turned into a theme that was all too prevalent throughout his otherwise remarkable career.

When he wasn’t injured, he was a true joy to watch. He was magnificent at making tacklers look nothing short of foolish in their attempts to bring him down. From a sentimental standpoint, he was a focal member of my first-ever fantasy football team (The Flying Squirrels) and one of the athletes I made a point of watching as often as possible growing up.

And now his son—who also knows a thing or two about incorporating a video-game juke into real life—will carry on his legacy at the same school where his father played.

The younger Taylor is one of the best players in the state of Florida and already is the state’s all-time leading rusher. He played varsity as an eighth-grader (which would likely result in full body casts if we attempted this) and passed none other than Emmitt Smith last season. He has 9,698 yards on the ground in his high school career, which goes along well with the video-game theme.

Typically, we can’t make much of verbal commitments. Just ask our good friends Gunner Kiel, LSU and Indiana. In fact, I just verbally committed to Ole Miss right now. Now I’m decommitting.

Without a signature, a player’s word is only as good as—well, his word, and in a lot of cases that isn’t saying much. This is a unique situation, however, and Taylor seems poised to stay solid at UF, per ESPN:

"

It was really close between Alabama and Florida. ... The more I kept going up there to visit Bama and UF, I just felt more at home at UF with the coaching staff. They are great guys, and I felt like I was part of the family. It was the same at Bama. I really liked it there, but the UF coaching staff is a really great group of guys, and UF has a great academic program also.

"

First and foremost, the 2013 class for the Florida Gators is off to a nice start. It certainly didn’t hurt that his father ran the ball for them not too long ago, but securing this commitment early on for the Gators is a good thing.

It’s early in the process, but most recruiting websites have him labeled as a 4- or 5-star prospect. Taylor will look to bolster a Gators offense that has struggled mightily over the past few seasons, which is the important issue at hand. Oh, have they struggled.

But here’s the thing—as I mentioned earlier, we’re entering the era when it comes to these next-generation athletes. There’s nothing new about the sons and daughters of famous athletes following in their parents’ footsteps.

There is something new, freakishly new—at least to those in my age group—about watching the offspring of the great commit to a college and beyond. We simply haven’t logged enough life hours to see it until now.

Our hairlines are going up, our stomachs are going out and the players we once watched are producing players that we will soon watch. This cycle is only beginning, and unfortunately there’s no going back. Sorry, hairline.

Fred Taylor isn’t the only athlete that this applies to. Ken Griffey Jr.’s son, Trey Griffey, committed to Arizona earlier this year. Trey is a wide receiver, which is good news for Rich Rodriguez. He’s also the son of “The Kid,” one of my favorite athletes of all time.

Unfortunately, however, the “The Kid” is no longer a kid. And neither are we.