'He totally revamped the position.' Get to know Bears rookie Tory Taylor.

It was great. He plays a position where usually people are booing when he walks on the field. A lot of people don’t necessarily respect his work from that standpoint. However, for a guy like him — he’s such a good person, so charismatic and a fan favorite — that’s a lot of fun to see a guy as good as he is be recognized. I think it turned a lot of people into fans of punting. There are all these different T-shirts, chants and cheers people have. He, in my opinion, totally revamped the position and brought awareness to it.

What is he like off the field?

Very reserved, very cool, calm, collected. Not like a big party guy. He cares about his craft, trying to get better. He’s a good teammate, good friend, from everything I’ve heard and seen. He’s about his business and wants to be as good as he possibly can be.

Do you have a favorite performance of his?

There are two. The most recent one was his senior year. We played at Wisconsin. It was a cold game. The wind was about 20 mph, and it was a very tricky wind. So it looked like it was coming from the left, and really it was coming from the right. It was swirling all over. And watching their punter warm up and watching Tory warm up, it was very obvious Tory had mastered the wind and he had figured it out.

He went into that game and he had 10 punts, which is a lot of punts in a game. But he completely controlled field position that day and he dominated the game. He had one punt he would like to take back, but it was more so the shot I called for him than him actually punting. He had a phenomenal game that game. He was Big Ten player of the week. But it was probably a signature performance for him because of the conditions and the game, and we ended up winning the game and he contributed greatly.

The other one I would say is a nationally televised game we played in 2021. We played Penn State at home. It was a huge game. He was lights out. He punted three balls inside the 5-yard line that contributed to us scoring. We had a safety on one of them. The guy was lights out that game.

What was your reaction when the Bears drafted him?

Not to get super sappy on you, but I will never forget where I was, what I was doing when he called to tell me he was going to be drafted. I was literally getting ready to call him and just say, “How’s it going this morning? Have you heard anything?” And I looked down in my hand and my phone is ringing, and it’s Tory and he’s like, “Are you watching? Are you watching?” I said, “Why? What’s going on? What happened?” And he said, “The Bears are about to draft me!” And I was like, “What?!”

I was in a sandwich shop in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, and so I ran out. My wife and kids were sitting at the table. We had just ordered some sandwiches, and everyone started going crazy and chanting and cheering. I’m crying. My wife’s crying. And we’re all cheering for Tory. It was a pretty special moment.

Anything else you want to add?

I would just say, a lot of times you get in sports and particularly pro sports, and people are all about performance and numbers. I think what Tory Taylor is — he’s a transcendent type of player, where he’s completely revamped the position, completely revamped everyone’s thoughts about punting, the importance of punting, the importance of field position. All of that stuff is great.

But what stands out the most to me about Tory is he’s just a really good human being. He cares about people. He wants people to do well. And he’s a great teammate. He’ll do anything to not let you down. That’s the kind of guy he is. My family — I have three kids and a wife, and they absolutely adore Tory Taylor.

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