JEFFERSON, Texas — "I'm kind of counting on my fingers, you know, going through my head. And Coach Carson, one of our running back coaches, said, 'Hey, that's eight touchdowns for him,' and I said, 'Man, what's the record?'," said Jefferson head football coach Ty Taylor.
That record is now eight, as set by quarterback Tihmyus Taylor last Friday in Jefferson's 74-12 win over Sabine. Eight touchdowns for the Bulldogs' eighth win this season, and so far they're still undefeated in this coaching staff's first year on the job.
"He was a great coach off the research from before so, and he just, he's a very smart guy, so he just bought coaches that was just like him," Taylor said. "Every day they're talking to us about how thankful they are of us. They make everyone feel wanted. They see everybody, they see all the work everybody put in. And that's where we're at. That's why we're at where we're at right now."
So in just one year of being there, coach Ty Taylor has turned this team's mentality around and fine tuned his quarterback's skills.
"My throwing mechanics, I was big on that last year. I knew I had to improve on it. And our OC (offensive coordinator) has come in, done a great job helping me improve on my mechanics and just getting my reads down, knowing where to go with the ball and when to go," the signal caller said.
Small improvements with his mechanics and his pocket awareness have helped Taylor excel, tossing 24 touchdowns to just four picks at this point in the season. But the coach says what his QB provides off the field is just as valuable.
"Tihmyus has really leaned into the leadership aspect of being a quarterback. He's one of our captains, and he was voted on by our team and he just has a quiet way of leading, and the kids follow him. They believe in him," the coach said.
Taylor added that, whether the senior wants it or not, he is the face of this team and this successful run. But the combination of the backing from this new staff with the leaps the team has made on the field, there's a feeling that the Bulldogs could make some noise come playoffs.
"Just the confidence that there's not no team really like this. So we go in there confident and don't beat ourselves. Then it should end how we want it to end," the quarterback said.
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