Tag: Taylor Mays

Taylor Mays leaves USC for on-field role at Washington

Taylor Mays was bound to go somewhere else as he builds his coaching career. He might circle back to USC a few years down the line.

After serving on Lincoln Riley’s staff for three seasons, Taylor Mays is headed to a conference foe. Mays, the legendary USC safety, was officially announced as the new safeties coach at Washington on Thursday. He had spent the 2024 season as USC’s assistant defensive backs coach, and was a defensive analyst for the two years before that.

Now, Mays will get his first shot at an on-field coaching position. It will come in the state where he grew up.

A five-star recruit out of the Seattle area in the Class of 2006, Mays made headlines when he picked the Trojans over the local Huskies. He would go on to be a four-year starter for Pete Carroll’s USC, earning first team All-America honors in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

The San Francisco 49ers selected Mays in the second round of the 2010 NFL draft. He would go on to play six seasons in the league.

There seems to be little question that Mays is a rising star in the coaching world. D’Anton Lynn just got extended as USC defensive coordinator. If, in two years, he bolts for a head coaching job or an NFL coordinator job, Taylor Mays might then be ready to take his place at USC.

Taylor Mays shares his thoughts on the USC-UCLA rivalry

Taylor Mays has played in the USC-UCLA football game. This season, he will coach in it, and he’s fired up for another run at the Bruins.

Taylor Mays is no stranger to the USC football rivalry against UCLA. Having played at USC from 2006-2009, the three-time All-America safety played against the Bruins four times, going 3-1 in those matchups. Now, Mays will be on the Trojans’ sideline for the Crosstown Showdown Saturday night as USC’s assistant defensive backs coach.

Earlier this week, Mays discussed the significance of the rivalry on USC’s weekly “Trojans Live” show.

”It does have a different feel, being at the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl playing UCLA,” Mays said.

”This is one of the reasons that you come to USC, to play in an awesome rivalry game like this. I’m not even from Los Angeles, and the rivalry means everything to me.

“You wanna be in the moment and really take it all in. But then you also want to go out there and slam their face in the ground.”

With neither USC nor UCLA having a particularly successful season, the stakes of this year’s matchup are not nearly as high as in years past. However, major bragging rights are still on the line this weekend, so there will certainly be no shortage of motivation on either side.

Kickoff of the Crosstown Showdown is set for 7:30 p.m. local time on Saturday night from the Rose Bowl.

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Trojans’ secondary coach Doug Belk ‘silently’ stacking recruiting victories for USC

Doug Belk might got get as many headlines as D’Anton Lynn or Eric Henderson, but he is earning his place at USC.

Lincoln Riley added Doug Belk to the USC football staff during his 2023 defensive coaching staff purge. Belk was asked to improve and transform a USC secondary which did not evolve or get the level of player development it needed from Alex Grinch and Donte Williams.

It shouldn’t be ignored that Taylor Mays got a lot out of the USC secondary in the Holiday Bowl, but that was in an interim capacity. Riley needed a heavy hitter to come in and change the back line of the USC defense. We haven’t yet seen Belk coach USC on a college football game day — his big debut is against LSU in a few weeks — but while coordinator D’Anton Lynn and defensive line coach Eric Henderson might have grabbed more headlines, Belk has silently gone about his business and showed what he can do in recruiting and player acquisition.

USC just received a commitment from Kendarius Reddick, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound four-star safety from Thomasville, Ga. Doug Belk did a solid job  was able to flip Reddick from UCF, another instance of USC going into the Deep South and getting a highly-rated player.  Reddick is a great addition to current 2025 commits Shamar Arnoux and Trestin Castro.

Belk has been on a nice run since his hire late in 2023.  He hung on to the commitments of Marcelles Williams, Isaiah Rubin and Braylon Conley in the 2024 class. If he can hang on to current commits: Brandon Lockhart, Madden Riordan and Joshua Holland while closing on RJ Sermons in 2026, the Trojans secondary can be elite.

He is speaking softly but is beginning to make his mark for the Trojans, improving the quality of the USC secondary.

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Jen Cohen, USC should give Taylor Mays a small pay raise after NCAA rule change

Jen Cohen needs to tell Taylor Mays, in a concrete way, he is valuable to USC.

USC football hopes Taylor Mays stays on the Trojans’ staff for the long haul. Now that the NCAA Division I Council has allowed defensive analysts to become hands-on coaches who can be on the sidelines during practices and games, USC defensive analyst Taylor Mays has been liberated and given the new ability to be more of a hands-on coach for the Trojans. USC Athletic Director Jen Cohen has spent a lot of money on Lincoln Riley’s new defensive coaching staff. She can’t break the bank for Taylor Mays, but she should try to throw him a few extra dollars in direct — and immediate — recognition of his increased value to USC now that he has been allowed, as a matter of NCAA policy, to do more coaching for the program.

In case you missed the story on NCAA coaching rule amendments, here it is from Pete Nakos of On3 Sports:

“At its annual meetings in Indianapolis, the 40-person council representing all 32 Division I conferences moved to allow all staff members to provide technical and tactical instruction to athletes during practice and games. For years, analysts and quality control coaches have been limited to assisting off the field through watching film and providing expertise in creating gameday strategy.

“Now they can help athletes grow on the field. The decision eliminates the NCAA’s 11-countable coaches policy, allowing just 10 assistants and a head coach to provide on-field instruction. The rule has become antiquated as top programs now employ a variety of analysts, quality control coaches, recruiting coordinators, player personnel directors, general managers and scouts. The move also ensures the NCAA doesn’t face any future legal action from college football coaches.”

Taylor Mays can now do a lot more coaching. USC should recognize Mays’ importance to the program and act accordingly.

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NCAA policy change means Taylor Mays can make more of an impact at USC

Taylor Mays has been allowed by the NCAA to more directly coach USC players. That’s huge.

The NCAA Division I Council just approved the removal of limits on coaching staffs, both in terms of the number of coaches who can provide on-field instruction and in terms of allowing analysts and lower-tier staffers to be able to provide direct coaching. At USC, this is a huge story for a number of reasons. One is that this unshackles Taylor Mays, who has been a defensive analyst but has not been a position coach except for his interim role with the secondary in the Holiday Bowl before Doug Belk took over. Taylor Mays now gets to coach the secondary much more directly under Belk. That’s a big boost for USC and should instantly upgrade the secondary. We wrote about Mays earlier this year:

“USC needed to add good defensive coaches to replace defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and assistant coach Donte Williams, who coached cornerbacks. There’s no question that USC made a significant upgrade with D’Anton Lynn replacing Grinch and Doug Belk replacing Williams as the main teacher of the secondary. However, even without those quality additions, USC had already improved its staff simply by cutting loose Grinch and Williams.

“Taylor Mays was substantially involved in preparing the USC defense for the Holiday Bowl on a skeleton staff. Mays was able to spend a lot of time teaching the players.”

Everyone at USC should be excited about Taylor Mays having an increased role on the coaching staff.

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Taylor Mays is part of USC’s first big recruiting weekend in June

Taylor Mays is front and center in USC’s big June recruiting push. That’s notable.

The USC Trojans staged their first big recruiting weekend of the month of June. Everyone in the college football industry is aware of the importance of June in the recruiting world. This is the time to make a big offseason impression after spring ball and before the season to come. This is a time when the coaches on a staff can really focus on recruiting before August camp begins and the season takes priority. Prospects know they’re getting a school’s full attention. Notable in USC’s big football recruiting weekend was the presence of Taylor Mays, a staffer under Lincoln Riley, as part of the festivities.

Mays isn’t a position coach on the 2024 staff, but he did stick around and stayed with USC instead of trying to land a secondary or defensive back coaching gig at another program. Mays has a bright future in the coaching business. It shouldn’t be long before he gets a chance to coach defensive backs, which could be a stepping stone on the way to a defensive coordinator gig several years down the line. Mays whipped USC’s secondary into shape before the Holiday Bowl win over Louisville. If Doug Belk or anyone else on staff leaves for another job, Mays could be in line as the obvious replacement if he stays. We’re not predicting he will, but that possibility is exciting for USC, because Mays shows every sign of being the real deal as a coach.

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USC football retains Taylor Mays for 2024 season as defensive analyst

Everyone wondered if Taylor Mays was going to be on the 2024 USC football staff. We have an answer: Yes.

The USC Trojans made some big hires on the defensive side of the ball this offseason. The Trojans substantially revamped their coaching staff heading into the 2024 college football season and the school’s first year of Big Ten Conference competition. Yet, two people of note were retained on this staff. We already knew Shaun Nua had been retained. Now we know that Taylor Mays has been retained, kept on staff as a defensive analyst for 2024, per Shotgun Spratling of 247Sports.

USC needed to add good defensive coaches to replace defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and assistant coach Donte Williams, who coached cornerbacks. There’s no question that USC made a significant upgrade with D’Anton Lynn replacing Grinch and Doug Belk replacing Williams as the main teacher of the secondary. However, even without those quality additions, USC had already improved its staff simply by cutting loose Grinch and Williams.

Taylor Mays was substantially involved in preparing the USC defense for the Holiday Bowl on a skeleton staff. Mays was able to spend a lot of time teaching the players, since he was promoted to interim safeties coach for the game. We all saw the product: Mays got an underperforming secondary to tackle far better than it did in the regular season. The leap in quality was dramatic. USC had already taken a big step forward simply by firing its underperforming coaches and giving Mays more of a role. Now that USC has hired new coaches, Mays is merely an analyst again. However, retaining him means that if any key defensive staffer leaves for a bigger job in 2025, Mays could slide in as a position coach and ascend on the staff.

It seems only a matter of time before Mays gets a job as a secondary coach, then as a defensive coordinator. His star is rising in the coaching community. USC is fortunate to keep him for at least one more year.

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USC interim safeties coach Taylor Mays makes huge impression in Holiday Bowl

Taylor Mays replaced Donte Williams, and USC’s secondary took a huge leap forward. You do the math.

In the cover photo for this story, you can see Taylor Mays — in a USC uniform — making an authoritative tackle for the Trojans against Penn State in the 2009 Rose Bowl. That was the next-to-last great moment for the Pete Carroll dynasty. (The last great moment was the 2009 win at Ohio State.)

Taylor Mays was one of the special players of a special era for USC football. This year, he had a minor role on Lincoln Riley’s staff but got a much bigger chance to directly coach USC players after the regular season ended. Donte Williams went off to Georgia to recruit for Kirby Smart. This enabled Mays to step in and teach USC’s safeties in preparation for the Holiday Bowl against Louisville.

Donte Williams out. Taylor Mays in.

USC profited in a very big way. The math here is undeniable. Taylor Mays made a big statement. Now let’s talk about what this means for USC in 2024 and beyond:

Taylor Mays will coach USC safeties after Alex Grinch’s firing, an interesting plot point for the Trojans

More from USA TODAY Sports on a plot twist involving the USC coaching staff.

It will be fascinating to see how USC’s defense does or doesn’t change in the final two weeks of the season against Oregon and UCLA. One would expect a simpler scheme which reduces confusion among USC players. One other interesting development is that a former USC football star will now have a more direct role on the coaching staff.

Jordan Mendoza of USA TODAY Sports has more on this story:

“Defensive analyst Taylor Mays has been elevated to an on-field assistant coach and will work with the (USC) safeties.”

USC’s secondary has been poor this season. There’s just no other way to put it. Taylor Mays having more involvement in coaching the safeties could elicit a higher level of performance. If it does, Mays might be able to stay on the 2024 staff when a new defensive coordinator arrives.

USC has declined under Alex Grinch, as Mendoza outlined here:

“The Trojans entered the season with national championship aspirations, and after a 6-0 start to the season that saw the Trojans rise as high as fifth in the US LBM Coaches Poll, USC has lost three of its last four games and is now unranked. The one win coming in a nail-biting 50-49 against Cal that came after the Golden Bears failed on a two-point conversion in the final minute of the game.”

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Taylor Mays named 49ers biggest 2nd-round bust of last 20 years

The 49ers took a big swing on Taylor Mays in the 2nd round of the draft, and he became their biggest 2nd-round bust of the last 20 years.

Draft busts are part of life in the NFL. While failed first-round picks tend to get the ‘bust’ label, picks from the second round that fail can have an equally adverse impact. Our friends at Touchdown Wire took a look at the worst second-round bust for each team since 2000.

For the 49ers, it was USC safety Taylor Mays.

San Francisco selected Mays No. 49 overall in the 2010 draft. Mays blew up the combine with a 4.31 40-yard dash, a 41-inch vertical and a 125-inch broad jump. He did all of that at 6-3, 220 pounds.

During his days at USC, Mays looked the part of a future Hall of Famer. The workout numbers only confirmed that.

San Francisco was on the edge of playoff contention in 2010, and Mays appeared to be the player that was going to help elevate their defense to an elite level.

He wound up starting only six games, and his most notable play came in a loss to Atlanta his rookie year when he recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown.

The 49ers wound up trading Mays to the Bengals for a 2013 seventh-round pick before his second season.

San Francisco wound up going to the NFC championship game the three years after trading Mays, so the swing and miss wasn’t a huge organizational setback.

However, Mays’ athleticism and failure to translate that to success in the NFL was extremely disappointing.

On a list that includes LaMichael James, Chilo Rachal and Tank Carradine, Mays stands out above them all.