Aaron Taylor:
At a school with a long history of stellar offensive lineman, Aaron Taylor was one of the best to ever suit up at Notre Dame. A monster in the trenches, he becomes the 48th Fighting Irish player to enter the College Football Hall of Fame, the most of any school.
A two-time First Team All-American, Taylor earned unanimous honors in 1993 and consensus recognition in 1992. The anchor for one of the best stretches of Notre Dame football in the last three decades, the Irish went 40-8-1 and won three major bowl games (1992 Sugar Bowl and the 1993 and 1994 Cotton Bowls) during his career. The 1993 Lombardi Award recipient as the nation’s top lineman, Taylor also won the Jim Parker Award from the Touchdown Club of Columbus, and he was a finalist for the Outland Trophy. The senior team captain guided the Fighting Irish to top-15 finishes every year of his career: No. 6 in 1990, No. 13 in 1991, No. 4 in 1992 and No. 2 in 1993.
The 1993 Moose Krause Lineman of the Year, Taylor blocked for consecutive 1,000-yard rushers in Reggie Brooks (1992) and Lee Becton (1993). He burst onto the scene in Notre Dame’s upset of Florida in the 1992 Sugar Bowl when Jerome Bettis scored two of his three touchdowns behind Taylor’s blocks. Starting the final 30-straight games of his career, he helped pave the way for an Irish run game that averaged 275 yards per game and tallied 71 rushing touchdowns from 1992-93. During his time at Notre Dame, the Bay Area native played for College Football Hall of Fame Coach Lou Holtz and alongside Hall of Famers Raghib “Rocket” Ismail and Chris Zorich.
A first-round pick by the Green Bay Packers in the 1994 NFL Draft, Taylor played for the franchise from 1994-97 and helped them win Super Bowl XXXI. He finished his pro career with the San Diego Chargers from 1998-99.
Taylor spent five months volunteering for Teaching and Projects Abroad, teaching English to high school students in South America. He also funded a project in Sri Lanka that built a community center and 40 temporary houses in the village of Kosgoda after a tsunami. Taylor helped establish The Joe Moore Foundation for Teamwork in honor of his offensive line coach at Notre Dame, and he created the Joe Moore Award, which is given annually to college football’s most outstanding offensive line. In 2007, he received the Harvey G. Foster Award from the Notre Dame Alumni Association for distinguished civic service. The founder of the Aaron Taylor IMPACT Fund, he can be seen during the fall as a college football analyst for CBS Sports.