Meet Saddleback standout Darnell Taylor
Driving to the hoop
If you have been to any of the men’s basketball games this season, then Darnell Taylor needs no introduction. He is usually the guy that puts the most points up on the board; he is also seen throwing some nasty dunks in here and there.
Unfortunately this will be his last year that he is a Saddleback Gaucho, he will move onto Boise State this fall on a full ride scholarship. Along with his luggage he will also bring with him his 11.3 points per game that lead Saddleback to a 27-5 record.
Darnell’s basketball career all started out in Los Angeles with his Grandpa and father, the most influential people in his life, along with the rest of his family who are “happy and proud” of his success in college thus far. He has lived in Los Angeles since he was born, going to high school in Crenshaw, a notoriously dangerous city. I asked how life was there he and simply said “hard, trying to stay alive.”
His outlet to this was basketball; at Crenshaw he averaged 23.2 points and 10.7 rebounds-per-game as a senior. With fantastic statistics like these he was an All-State, All-League and All-City player. To go along with those amazing feats he also lettered; a truly memorable year for Darnell.
When asked if Boise State was the first college that offered him a scholarship he said, “No, they came late.” He goes on to mention that they were only one of the four prestigious schools that were interested in him, “also University of Texas at El Paso, USC, and Cal State Northridge Fullerton.”
At Boise State Taylor will be majoring in Fire Science, he hopes to one day become a fireman. That is if his dreams of playing in the NBA fall short. If Taylor keeps up with his 11.3 points per game and 4.4 rebounds a game, he will most likely never put on a fireman suite. That will be because with statistics like those in division one college basketball, NBA teams will be drooling at the mouth for him.
Being that Taylor has never lived outside of California he said, “It’s going to be kind of different; I think I can do it.” Idaho is night and day different from California, its place where you experience every single season of the year. Unlike southern California where the only weather we really experience is sunny.
If he can acclimate himself to his surroundings and put in the same work ethic he did at Saddleback then there is no reason he shouldn’t have a very nice college career. Even if he doesn’t make it to the NBA then he still gets a free degree from a prestigious school and can become a fireman. Even though the ultimate goal is to play professional ball like his favorite player, Kobe Bryant.
For more information on Taylor and the rest of the team visit:
http://saddlebackgauchos.com/sports/mbkb/index
http://saddlebackgauchos.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/bios/taylor_darnell_2n2d
http://saddlebackgauchos.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/schedule