Clemson’s Will Taylor gives up football to concentrate on his baseball ‘passion’
Will Taylor, the first Clemson athlete to win ACC championships in football and baseball in the same academic year in over three decades, is giving up his dual-sport approach.
Taylor, a rising junior who played both sports at Clemson his first two seasons on campus, is dropping football and committing to baseball full-time, he announced Wednesday via social media.
“Most people never get the opportunity to play even one sport in college,” Taylor said on Twitter. “I’ve been fortunate enough to play two. The opportunity to play both football and baseball for Clemson has been a dream come true with so many unforgettable moments. But today I am announcing my intention to pursue my passion for baseball at Clemson full-time.”
Season-ending injuries during each of Taylor’s first two years in football (he played slot wide receiver and punt returner) have affected his health and playing time early in each of his first two baseball seasons.
That made dropping the former sport a logical decision for Taylor, a 5-foot-10 outfielder who ranked as Baseball America’s No. 26 draft prospect coming out of Irmo’s Dutch Fork High School before choosing to enroll at Clemson in summer 2021.
Taylor also ranked as Perfect Game’s No. 24 sophomore player nationally ahead of the 2023 college baseball season in which he hit .362 with 67 runs, 46 RBIs, 16 doubles and five home runs in 62 games for the Tigers. Taylor was also No. 4 in the ACC in on-base percentage and No. 10 in batting average.
Clemson (44-19) won the ACC championship and earned the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA Tournament during coach Erik Bakich’s first season before losing in the regional round. The Tigers will be widely expected to make a push for a Super Regional trip and/or College World Series trip in 2024.
Taylor ends his Clemson football career having played 44 offensive snaps with five carries for 20 yards, seven catches for 22 yards and a touchdown and 16 punt returns for 90 yards.
A state-championship winning quarterback at Dutch Fork who came to Clemson as a three-star athlete recruit, he worked as a gadget player in 2021 while practicing with Clemson’s QBs.
In 2022, as the Tigers added more quarterback depth, he underwent a scheduled transition to wide receiver and practiced with that position group while winning an ACC championship.
Taylor’s departure drops Clemson football to 85 players on scholarships, which is the NCAA maximum. The Tigers had entered the summer at 88 players, which could’ve prompted coach Dabo Swinney pulling scholarships from former walk-ons ahead of the 2023 season opener.
But the departures of defensive back Malcolm Greene (transfer), defensive end Greg Williams (stepping away from football) and Taylor ensure that long snapper Holden Caspersen, running back Domonique Thomas and quarterback Hunter Helms will remain as scholarship players.
In his statement, Taylor thanked Swinney and wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham for “giving me the opportunity to play both sports here and for all the wisdom you’ve shared with me over the last two years” and said he’d continue to support his football teammates “however I can.”
Taylor flashed his football talents in spurts but struggled to stay healthy. He suffered a season-ending torn ACL five games into his true freshman season — and that seven-month recovery process also forced him to miss the first 45 games of Clemson’s baseball season under former coach Monte Lee.
In 2022, Taylor only played 29 offensive snaps and ceded his starting punt returner duties to fellow receiver Antonio Williams. He also missed three games late in the season with a minor knee injury that required surgery and limited him heading into the 2023 baseball season.
Taylor ended up appearing in 15 of a possible 27 games for the Clemson football team while becoming the first athlete at the school to win ACC championships in two different sports the same academic year since James Trapp did it in 1991-92 with football and men’s track and field.
He was also the first to do it for football and baseball specifically since defensive back/third baseman Rusty Charpia in 1988-89. Now, he’ll cap his Tigers career concentrating on his top sport — and his more financially lucrative sport — with the 2024 season and MLB Draft in his sights.
“To Coach Bakich, our baseball staff and all my baseball teammates, you’re going to get everything I’ve got to get this program back to Omaha,” Taylor said. “Clemson Football fans, this isn’t goodbye. I’ll just see you at Doug Kingsmore Stadium next spring. Go Tigers.”
This story was originally published July 12, 2023 at 10:31 AM.
