Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott recently bestowed upon freshman quarterback/wide receiver Will Taylor a new nickname – Maverick, the nickname of Tom Cruise’s character, Pete Mitchell, in the 1986 movie Top Gun.
Maverick was an F-14 Tomcat pilot for the United States Navy.
“He’s got that feistiness to him. That edge to him. I think he likes it too,” Elliott said. “That is what I didn’t know about him just because I was not heavy involved in the process. [Brandon] Streeter, [Tyler] Grisham and Jeff kind of handled that for the most part.
“But man, he provides a spark. And what I think he has done, too, is that he has garnered the respect of everyone in that locker room.”
Taylor met with the media on Tuesday and talked about the new nickname he earned from Elliott.
“He said, ‘I’m going to call you ‘Maverick,’’ Taylor said. “I looked at him and I was like, ‘Maverick?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, like Goose and Maverick from Top Gun.’ I was like, ‘OK, I like that.’ So, that started a couple weeks ago, and it’s been kind of catching on ever since. So, that’s what he’s been calling me.”
Taylor was asked if Elliott told him why he wanted to give him the nickname.
“I don’t know, he just kind of told me, ‘I’m going to call you ‘Maverick,’’ Taylor said. “So, I guess me and Maverick have some of the same qualities.”
Taylor said he has seen the movie and feels the nickname is fitting.
“I have. I like Top Gun,” he said. “Maverick seems like a very confident guy, so I like that.”
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