Anthone Taylor spent the preseason standing in the shadow of his predessor, UB's record holding running back Branden Oliver. Even after Taylor put up his second consecutive 200 yard game Oliver still stole the show by having a break out day for the San Diego Chargers.
Taylor and Oliver are both north-south runners who make their impact by hitting the line hard for a few yards here and there before eventually breaking through for the big play. It's only natural that people always compare the two. BO is still fresh on the minds of Buffalo fans and Taylor is just beginning to make a name for himself.
Then in this week's press conference this week I saw another way in which you can compare the backs. Taylor not only runs with the same style as Oliver; he walks with the same humility. When he was initially peppered with questions about BO the UB junior was all too happy to talk about his former teammate even though nobody would begrudge him some annoyance that he is not getting his due.
Taylor's big weeks continues to move him up in the UB record books. He should soon start to appear in the "Top 10" categories listed weekly in the Buffalo Bulls game program. Anthone came into the season ranked 51st in carries, 40th in yards, and 35th in rushing touchdowns among UB players.
Six games into the season and Taylor is ranked 21st, 18th, and 13th respectively in those categories. It's very likely before his junior season is over Taylor will be top 10 in all categories.
While a lot of players have made moves in UB's record books this season none has been as pronounced as the jump by Taylor.
Some of the receivers have also moved up this week but when a running back puts up 200 plus yards and your quarterback does a good job distributing the ball there is not going to be a lot of record setting moves among the pass catchers.
Joe Licata is not moving up much because he is now top five in all categories and second in touchdown passes. He should move up a bit more this season in a couple of categories but it's slow climbing from here on out.