Marlon Taylor admits he was his own worst enemy when it came to getting on the field early in his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football career.
After being part of head coach Rusty Wright’s first signing class in 2019, the 6-foot-1 defensive lineman had gotten up to 335 pounds due to a combination of poor habits.
The biggest one? Lack of sleep: Taylor would stay up half the night watching his favorite TV show, “Steven Universe,” causing him to show up tired for 6 a.m. meetings. He would then sleep half of the afternoon and therefore be up all night. It was a never-ending cycle that had Taylor — who, as a prospect out of Glynn Academy in Brunswick, Georgia, had offers from Football Bowl Subdivision programs Coastal Carolina, Middle Tennessee State, Troy and Tulane — down in the rotation for playing time on UTC’s defensive line.
“I’m like, ‘Come on, dude. You’ve got to help yourself out,” said Wright, who implored Taylor to cut his afternoon naps from two to three hours to 30 minutes.