Sean Michael Maurice Taylor was born in Miami on April 1, 1983.
Perhaps by fate, maybe by coincidence, it was later that same year that the University of Miami, behind a quarterback named Kosar and coach named Schnellenberger (seen below with QB Jim Kelly), would win their first college football National Championship by beating Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.
That game, which put the UM program on the big-time college football map, has often been referred to as the "Miracle in Miami". Sean's Taylor's birth in April of that year could also be seen as a miracle for what this young man would soon bring to his team and its fans in his home town.
Sean grew up in a tough South Dade neighborhood and later attend Gulliver High School where he would help them win the Class 2A State Title. His spectacular play would help him become the #1 ranked prep player in Miami-Dade County by the Miami Herald. Sean was so dominant at the high school level that he played multiple positions including running back, linebacker and defensive back.
After a spectacular Senior season and a hotly contested recruiting battle, Sean decided to attend the University of Miami. It would prove to be somewhat ironic that Sean would wind up being one of only four true freshmen to play in 2001 on the Hurricanes fifth National Championship team.
Even at this early stage, Sean's life had seemingly come full circle. From being born during the Miracle in Miami season of 1983 to contributing to what was arguably the best UM team ever, the Canes 2001 championship team. Sean Taylor, a hometown boy had already grown to become a hometown hero and would eventually become a true legend to Canes fans in the 305 and beyond.
As Junior at UM in 2003, after beating FSU at Doak Campbell Stadium in the pouring rain seemingly all by himself, Sean would win a slew of college football awards. After that season, Sean decided it was time to take the next step in his carrer and would opt for the NFL draft.
He would be the first of six Canes selected in the first round that year (an NFL record) when he was drafted fifth overall by the Washington Redskins.
By 2006 there was no doubt that Sean Taylor had become the dominant player at his position and was honored by being selected to the NFL Pro-bowl that year. He was nicknamed "Meast" by teammates for being part man, part beast. Taylor would become one of the most feared hitters in the NFL and gained the respect of his peers at the highest level of competition.
Entering his third year as a Redskin, Sean seemed to be at the top of his game and the NFL talent pool. By the tenth week of the NFL season he was tied for the league lead in interceptions and was considered an automatic selection for his second straight Pro-Bowl.
Then came the fateful night of November 27, 2007.Sean Taylor, while at home asleep with his wife and 18 month-old daughter, awoke to a loud noise in his home. In an effort to protect his family, Sean confronted the would-be burglars. He was shot once and would later die from the severe loss of blood as his femoral artery was torn apart by the single bullet.
That night would end the life of a real Hurricane hero.
Sean Taylor's sudden and tragic death shocked his family, friends, teammates and the Hurricane faithful. When he died the day following the shooting, we promised to never forget his contributions to the University of Miami. This blog article is our simple way of proving that we have not forgotten Sean Taylor, #26, who played at The U and was proud to wear the orange and green.
Some memories never fade.
And even now, if you close your eyes, you can probably still see him, #26 back peddaling into open space, picking off another deep pass, splashing through the rain and the mud at the Doak, weaving down the field behind several blockers, refusing to be denied and diving into the end zone for a pick six.
That is how we will remember Sean Taylor.
As a miracle of a man who at times seemed completely capable of beating the other team all by himself.
RIP #26
Posted by: SOUP | November 28, 2013 at 12:55 AM
Dos. Miss you Sean.
Posted by: j.w. | November 28, 2013 at 12:57 AM
Tre?
Posted by: DallasTX Cane | November 28, 2013 at 12:59 AM
Happy Thanksgiving SOUP & all Canespacers! Thankful for having such a great place to get all the CANES news and for such passionate fans.
#26...best of the best
Posted by: DallasTX Cane | November 28, 2013 at 01:01 AM
2nd pic from the top...TEXTBOOK!
If you wanna teach a kid how to tackle...DON'T!...tell em' to watch SEAN TAYLOR!
RIP #26!
Posted by: CaneRock | November 28, 2013 at 01:02 AM
I may have mentioned that my mother is buried in the same cemetary in Kendall as Sean Taylor.
I have the opportunity to visit often.
I cry a lot at both sites.
Posted by: SOUP | November 28, 2013 at 01:06 AM
Happy Thanksgiving Canespace Fam!!!
Posted by: IraqiCane | November 28, 2013 at 01:12 AM
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Posted by: SOUP | November 28, 2013 at 01:13 AM
RIP ST#26
Posted by: Terrance Sullivan | November 28, 2013 at 01:19 AM
Happy Turkey Day! Happy Thanksgivikah!
Go 'Canes!
Posted by: Mia Chi 'Cane '98 | November 28, 2013 at 01:26 AM
Happy Thanksgiving CaneSpacers! Love U all.
Posted by: Terrance Sullivan | November 28, 2013 at 01:29 AM
Happy thaksgiving to everyone !
Celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving several weeks ago but as football fans US Thanksgiving is an extra special treat for us
RIP Sean Taylor, very few know how great he was and how great an impact he would have had in the NFL and world if he had the opportunity.
Enjoy your holidays and family
Posted by: Habcane | November 28, 2013 at 02:06 AM
Very nice article.
Great pictures too.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone
P.S. BEAT PITT, DAMN IT!
Posted by: nemo2002 | November 28, 2013 at 06:58 AM
Viagra online dude never takes a holiday, LOL!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING CANESPACERS!!!
Transfer case just went out on my F 250 4 wheel drive deep in the Georgia woods @ 6 am temprature is 24 degrees but Im still gonna be thankful.
God has been good to Native and we all have so much to be thankful for.
RIP #26 ST
DEM CANES!!!
Posted by: NativeCane | November 28, 2013 at 07:41 AM
Happy Thanksiving Spacers!
And THANKS! for everything that you do SOUP!
Posted by: CaneRock | November 28, 2013 at 08:24 AM
Good Morning Spacers and Happy Thanksgiving to all except NOFENSE
Posted by: SinisterCane | November 28, 2013 at 08:41 AM
GREAT ARTICLE!!! EVERYONE BE SAFE HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY.ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY THE TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY!!!THANKS FOR ALL U DO SOUP
Posted by: canezilla | November 28, 2013 at 08:55 AM
Chris Freet @ChrisFreet 1h
@86Cane @ChrisYandle happy thanksgiving to everyone on Canespace.
SMILE
Posted by: SOUP | November 28, 2013 at 09:32 AM
ST#26 - Rest In Peace - Gone but not forgotten
A very happy Thanksgiving to all the Canespace family and may all your families be blessed.
Thank you to the military Spacers that serve & protect this great country at great sacrifice to themselves.
Thanks Soup for all your hard work to give us this wonderful forum.
It's great to be a MIAMI HURRICANE!!
Raize check email if you haven't already
Posted by: KYcane | November 28, 2013 at 09:48 AM
Happy Thanksgiving to all at CS. Hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend. Should be some good games to enjoy. Hope we can keep the ship afloat but it will be very cold in PA....we are not prepared for cold weather and that will certainly affect both the O and D.......blocking and tackling people its what matters.
We must play to our strengths, strengths start with fundamentals.
I am enjoying the glow of the SB.....it was a great run for this school. Not sure of next move yet.
Posted by: VA Cane | November 28, 2013 at 09:51 AM
Happy Thanksgiving to all Spacers and their families…..
Posted by: raizecane | November 28, 2013 at 10:09 AM
ST26 certainly one of the greatest Hurricanes and DBs to play college football, was on his way to greatness in the NFL for sure.
I hate that he played for Washington....sorry ass city sorry ass team....I never recognize him as a Redskin; he will always be a Cane. He sure dint tackle like the soft easy going arm tackling be nice secondary we currently start....he would have been appalled. The man was a warhead....Night Train Lane, Larry Wilson, Jack Tatum, Ronnie Lott guys who would put your lights out. That's how it has to be played. We may one day see that; solid punishing tackling.....where people do not get up. I have not seen it a lot lately and that's sad.
Posted by: VA Cane | November 28, 2013 at 10:18 AM
Maybe instead of a pregame speech, AG can hold a seance and summon the spirit of ST to inhabit our current bunch. Coaches included.
Posted by: KYcane | November 28, 2013 at 10:24 AM
Rip #26
Happy Thanksgiving Canespacers!!
I am hopeful that canes coaches will not allow heaters on the sideline tomorrow! We don't need them, Play some effn football! The fans don't get heaters in the stands.
Go Canes!!
Posted by: Surfercane | November 28, 2013 at 10:36 AM
Right on Surfer!!!My 13 year olds have won 5 SBs in pretty cold weather......they are champions. I could meet the team and give a nice seminar on cold weather football. I played in a regional championship in Covington where the temp, with wind chill was about -4 or so. Cold frozen turf, ice, smoke billowing from paper mill behind field dark....we won 14-10 in a great game. I wrote the book on cold weather as it was necessary from where I grew up. Cold is no excuse.....I look at it as an opponent....beat your opponent, by beating Mother Nature that day.
It wears you out the cold does....as Vince L said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all". You defy normal human fatigue, fear and cowardice.....you go out and win!!!!
Posted by: VA Cane | November 28, 2013 at 10:42 AM
You defy normal human fatigue, fear and cowardice.....you go out and win!!!!
Posted by: VA Cane | November 28, 2013 at 10:42 AM
Let's hope this 'defy nature' strategy doesn't occur to Pitt.
Posted by: dj moonbat | November 28, 2013 at 11:04 AM
Happy Thanksgiving CaneSpacers!
Nice bio-piece SOUP. Sean Taylor was an incredible athlete and a Cane who would single-handedly transform our "current" D.
Hope everyone has a chance to enjoy their families...
And, hope our Canes come out ballin' tomorrow!
Posted by: roachcane77 | November 28, 2013 at 11:33 AM
What's the deal Blogmeister?
Is TypePad eating my posts again?
NEMO's best to ALL today.
BEAT PITT, DAMN IT!
Posted by: nemo2002 | November 28, 2013 at 11:34 AM
Happy Thanksgiving to the Space!
RIP ST26.
Posted by: Keoki | November 28, 2013 at 11:43 AM
RIP 26 it was an HONOR to watch you play for the Canes.
Happy Thanksgiving to all the space cadets here!
Posted by: CGNC | November 28, 2013 at 11:53 AM
@Surfercane LOL. I don't mind if they have heated benches. It's quite a change to go from 70's and 80's to what they will have (33 is the high for tomorrow). You are right though, play some football, that will keep you warm.
Posted by: CGNC | November 28, 2013 at 11:58 AM
Posted by: VA Cane | November 28, 2013 at 10:42 AM
True! The cold sneaks up on you and you are fatigued before you realize it. I learned that ice skating - drinking more fluid than you really think you need helped alot
Posted by: CGNC | November 28, 2013 at 11:59 AM
Happy Thanksgiving to all!!
Posted by: Account Deleted | November 28, 2013 at 12:07 PM
Nice article. Rip #26. You may be gone, you are never forgotten. Happy thanksgiving canespacers.
Posted by: RARA | November 28, 2013 at 12:17 PM
Canes 10 Cold Weather 21
Posted by: raizecane | November 28, 2013 at 12:45 PM
To bad out of 100 or so kids on our roster, we don't even have one player close to him, or should I say half as close as him.
To all spacers go fatten up today, get your bellies all greased up, so tomorrow, you can gas up on your favorite beverage and hopefully watch, the dam Canes put everything together, for one day this year. Alas, The Herb is quite disturbed, to have to predict with the erratic Morris at the Helm, and Deno making calls on defense, and Coley mixing in his Vanilla, 1ST & 2ND down runs, The Herb has to say he sees a Pitt eeking out a 28-24 win. Maybe by predicting a loss, someone on the team will actually read this prediction and say F The Herb and it will motivate, them to prove me wrong.
Posted by: herbieibis | November 28, 2013 at 12:49 PM
Question for all: if the 1998 squad played this squad - who would win? I said the 98 squad. (Schiano wasn't our DC then, it was the following year - but still)
Posted by: CGNC | November 28, 2013 at 12:56 PM
CGNC - thats hard to answer. 1998 was 15 years ago, Kids today are faster, bigger and stronger…...
Posted by: raizecane | November 28, 2013 at 01:04 PM
1998 would win by 10 or more points, easy.
Bigger faster stronger whatever, Butch would own Al every day of the week and twice on Thanksgiving!
He's got those three Super Bowl rings to flash for a reason after all.
Plus Covington had the talent to be a 7000 or more yard passer for his career, Butch just had to make him a backup for depth issue politics due to actual sanctions, not complained about investigations with no real scholarship numbers denied to him at this time, so Scott with his laid back California attitude chilled on the pine with the clipboard for a few years instead of racking up the early career totals for a shot at the record book, unlike the one and only Steven Morris.
Posted by: orange 'n green in the vein | November 28, 2013 at 01:28 PM
Bigger faster stronger whatever, Butch would own Al every day of the week and twice on Thanksgiving!
Posted by: orange 'n green in the vein | November 28, 2013 at 01:28 PM
Butch is just up the road in Tampa and just an hour South of where U live. Why don't U go pay him a visit, bring some game tape with you and interview him for a blog article after the NFL season is done?
LOL
Posted by: SOUP | November 28, 2013 at 02:19 PM
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone…Be Blessed and by the Way…
is Sam Shields not shutting down MegaTron or What… Way2Go Sammy..<<<
RCCF
Posted by: RCCF | November 28, 2013 at 02:22 PM
Shields just took that one away from Johnson
Posted by: KYcane | November 28, 2013 at 02:45 PM
s/o Randy Shannon…. He gets a lot of hate but lets be real here the stars in the NFL are and will always be Randy's boys so before U hate remember how Great Randy really was….
RCCF
Posted by: RCCF | November 28, 2013 at 02:54 PM
You mean during basketball season 86?
I think you're overestimating the prestige this football program is running on the fumes of these days to fool yourself into thinking I'd bother Butch about it instead of paying attention to the hoops team in the middle of their season.
Besides, not only would I be expecting a medical bill assist when I came down with staph from setting foot in there, but really, it's Wanny we'd want to talk to, offense is doing fine, despite what Sully continues to want to claim to the contrary going into the season finale.
Posted by: orange 'n green in the vein | November 28, 2013 at 02:55 PM
always liked Covington-He used to throw that deep out to Santana was a thing of beauty
Posted by: TJL | November 28, 2013 at 03:28 PM
UM hoops trying to pull one out against GW
Posted by: KYcane | November 28, 2013 at 03:40 PM
Yeah they let that one get away from them and while I hate to point out that Manu didn't get to the line at all, was on the bench when they came back to take the lead from down 12, and his man hit the trying shot on the last possession over him standing on the ground with both hands raised, IT HAPPENED!
I would also like to note at this time the football coach is finding a way to drag down both his team and the basketball team simultaneously now with his decision not to redshirt Elder just so he could burn a year of football returning kicks when there's tons of other options on the team to handle that and some spot duty in yet another atrocious defensive performance this season before blowing out a ligament against the worst ACC team in the conference this year.
Oh, and look at the bottom here;
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20131127/week-14-pickoff/?eref=sihp
Yeah. Somehow, some straw gasping individuals will try to argue improvement though, just watch, and try to keep laughing at them.
Posted by: orange 'n green in the vein | November 28, 2013 at 04:11 PM
Question for all: if the 1998 squad played this squad - who would win? I said the 98 squad. (Schiano wasn't our DC then, it was the following year - but still)
Posted by: CGNC | November 28, 2013 at 12:56 PM
The 98 team.
I went back and watched them play OSU that year, and MAN! was that defense fast.
Posted by: CaneRock | November 28, 2013 at 05:38 PM
That was the '99 kickoff classic, week one CR, but yes, the same guys who mattered were on that defense making up the backbone of that side of the ball and they had some struggles but the raw talent was there to show up any day and get enough stops to win against even top tier teams.
Posted by: orange 'n green in the vein | November 28, 2013 at 05:52 PM
OGV, correct, that was 1999.
Posted by: CaneRock | November 28, 2013 at 06:55 PM