Like his father did for more than a decade, Kelvin Taylor served as a workhorse in Jacksonville on Saturday.
Making his first career start in Florida’s 23-20 loss to Georgia at EverBank Field, Taylor flashed the instincts and elusiveness that helped make him a highly coveted high school prospect.
“I’ve said it all year,” Trey Burton said. “He’s going to be a good one.”
With the rest of Florida’s offense proving to be mostly ineffective, Taylor shouldered his heaviest load of the season. He carried the ball 20 times for 76 yards — each a career high — in front of 84,693 fans. And he did it on the field his father, Fred Taylor, played on for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 1998-2008.
Taylor was leaned on during the first half against the Bulldogs when the rest of the offense was stagnant. Excluding an 83-yard completion from quarterback Tyler Murphy to Quinton Dunbar on Florida’s second play from scrimmage, the Gators totaled only 126 yards of offense before halftime.
Taylor contributed 51 of those yards on the ground by consistently finding holes and pushing piles forward.
His most productive drive came during Florida’s fourth series. With Florida trailing 20-0 early in the second quarter, he carried the ball four times for 21 yards as the Gators methodically moved the ball down the field before settling for a field goal to cut their deficit to 20-3.
“He did a good job of getting north and south,” Murphy said.
Fred Taylor finished as the Jaguars’ all-time leading rusher in 11 seasons after starring for the Gators from 1994-97. He is fourth in program history in career rushing yards and helped the Gators win a national championship during the 1996 season.
Though Kelvin’s production has been modest early in his career, he has drawn comparisons to his father because of his quick feet and powerful style of running.
“It always seems like that kid’s one cut away from making a big touchdown run,” Murphy said. “The sky’s the limit for him.”
Since starting running back Matt Jones suffered a season-ending torn meniscus Oct. 12, Taylor has totaled at least 10 carries and 50 rushing yards in all three games.
His consistent production has been one of the few bright spots for Florida’s offense.
Entering Saturday, the Gators ranked near the bottom of the SEC in most statistical categories. Most alarmingly, Florida was 12th in the conference in scoring offense with an average of 27.1 points per game and last in total offense with 336.9 yards per game.
Despite facing the Bulldogs (5-3, 4-2 SEC), who entered the weekend last in the conference in scoring defense, little changed for the Gators.
Florida (4-4, 3-3) recovered from an abysmal first half to score the final 17 points of the game, but totaled only 319 yards of offense while accumulating 70 yards in penalties, punting four times and allowing four sacks.
“We dug ourselves too big of a hole,” coach Will Muschamp said. “We need to get out of the gate quicker and create more momentum for our team.”
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