'He raised me to be strong.' After father's death, Lakeland receiver plays for something more

LAKELAND — It was March 9, 2022, Jamar Taylor Jr., then a freshman at Victory Christian, was in his room when he heard a noise in another upstairs room at his house in Lakeland. Checking it out, he found his father, former Lakeland running back Jamar Taylor Sr., slumped on the floor.

“I heard a thump, and he was on the floor,” Taylor said. “I didn’t know what was going on. I’m staying calm, I’m getting my little siblings, I’m trying to be their big brother.”

Taylor Sr. was rushed to the hospital but died of a brain aneurysm. He was 33. Losing a parent at such a young age can be a traumatic experience, but Taylor, now a senior wide receiver at Lakeland, did not let it overwhelm him or derail him from his goals.

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One such goal is to complete another championship season as he and his fellow seniors have one more high school game in their career. Lakeland plays Venice in the Class 4S state championship game at 8 p.m. Saturday in Tallahassee.

“Ever since I'm doing what I can do to make him proud—do the best because I’m motivated,” Taylor said. “He motivates me every day.”

His father is never far from his thoughts.

“It bothers me all the time because I do wish I had a father to talk to,” Taylor said. “But he raised me to be strong, and I’m not going to let it bother me. I’m going to keep pushing like I knew he would want me to do. I can’t mourn every day. I’m just doing what he wants me to do, keep grinding and stay in the books."

Taylor Sr. had a close relationship with his son.

“He was on top of him,” said Victory coach Kendrick Stewart, who was a teammate with Taylor Sr. at Lakeland and coached Taylor Jr. for two years at Victory. “He wanted the best for him. … He always said he wanted him ‘to be better than me.’ He wanted to guide him in that aspect.”

From Victory to Lakeland and a tough junior season

Taylor is having a senior season his father would be proud of, especially after not seeing the field a lot as a junior. He first transferred from Victory to Lake Gibson for the spring of his sophomore year but knew it wasn’t right for him. He always wanted to end up at Lakeland and transferred over the summer.

“Victory is not a bad school,” he said. “They're just small. I came to a bigger school and I really wanted to continue my dad's legacy."

At Lakeland last season, he was part of a deep receiving corps that included Tyler Williams (Georgia), Daidren Zipperer (Utah) and Jhoelle Velazquez, all of whom had more than 20 catches each along with tight end Omari Mixon, who had 10.

Taylor had just six catches, five of which came in the ninth game of the season against Lakeland. At Victory as a sophomore, he had 35 catches for 625 yards. Despite being on a team that had experienced veteran wide receivers against of him last year, Taylor expected more.

“I was expecting to come play, but I didn’t come in and do what I was supposed to do,” he said. “It was all my fault. I could have came in, sold out way better, made better out of my opportunities, because last year I had a couple of drops. I had a couple of opportunities. I could have made big catches and I didn't make the catch. So that was on me, that was my fault. I wasn't making that play.”

Taylor continued to grind and kept pushing himself to be better, something that wasn’t always in him. He quit football during his sixth grade year and did not return until his freshman year. Although he was more interested in basketball at the time,  he admitted that one of the reasons was that he was lazy.

Taylor's work pays off

As a senior, he’s now one of the hardest workers on the team. He constantly works with quarterback Zander Smith, even on off days, work they began even before Smith was officially at Lakeland.

With the work he has put in, Taylor was poised to have a big senior year. He has emerged as Lakeland’s leading receiver with 40 receptions for 579 yards and five touchdowns.

“It’s such a blessing,” he said. “If things didn’t go my way, I can’t let it get the best of me. I always pray for the opportunities because I knew if I got the opportunities, I was going to make the best of them.”

Lakeland coach Marvin Frazier has seen the development in Taylor. Frazier said Taylor was a little overweight at 215 last year but was able to drop 20 pound during the season. Frazier said that they were going to move him to safety if he didn’t drop weight. Frazier saw in the spring that Taylor was ready for a big season.

“We would love to take credit for some of it, but it's his work ethic, his want to,” Frazier said. “He wanted to get better. The things we did in the weight room and obviously the program things, that's everybody. But Jamar put in extra work, he put in a lot of extra work. He wants to be better.”

And Taylor has been even better than the coaches thought he could be. In the spring game, Taylor caught a screen pass at the line of scrimmage then ran away from defenders.

“He did something that we didn't think he had before,” Frazier said. “I had college people telling me that they verified that he was running 22 mph. It was the first time having that opportunity at this level. That's when we realized that he has a chance to be really special, because we knew that he could be a possession receiver, run any route and run away from people.

"The thing about Jamar that I tell ever single coach. Rick Penick is a blazer. He’s speed. Pat (Dennis) is that long, wiry type. Jamar checks all the box. He does everything well. He doesn’t have a weakness. He does everything, he blocks, runs routes has great hands. He’s tenacious and want to win.”

Taylor showed he had the clutch gene against Buchholz last week. With the score tied in the third quarter, Taylor made a difficult reception in tight coverage that set up the game-wining touchdown.

“I thought I was going to catch in and run into the end zone,” he said. “Then I saw him tip it, I kept my eyes on it and caught it. I tried to keep my feet in.”

He went out at the 4 and Lakeland later scored.

While his father was a running back, a two-time 1,000-yard rusher who signed with Alabama then transferred to USF to be close to his family — Taylor Jr. was just born — the young Taylor has thrived at receiver, although it was never planned that he play a different position. It just sort of evolved. While he’s proud of his father’s accomplishments, Taylor wants to be known for his own accomplishments too.

“Dad always told me to be my own man,” he said “As I grew up, I really didn't like living off his name. I always wanted to be my own man and make my own name for myself. I didn’t just want to be known as Jamal Taylor’s son. I want it to be the they say, ‘Oh, that was Jamar Taylor’s father.’”

Roy Fuoco is a sports reporter for The Ledger. Follow him Saturday from the state championship game in Tallahassee on X, formerly known as Twitter, @RoyFuoco

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland wide receiver Jamar Taylor Jr. looking to make his own name