Sheridan grad held five Power 4 offers
ATHENS — Shay Taylor’s traveling tour has ended.
After stops at places like Morgantown, State College and Winston-Salem, the Sheridan grad wound up in a place with plenty of familiarity.
Taylor, who entered the NCAA transfer portal on April 11 as a graduate transfer from Ohio University, chose Charlotte, an AAC school, on Monday after making multiple visits to other campuses in recent days.
Taylor held Power 4 offers from Penn State, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Rutgers and Wake Forest. He visited Charlotte this past weekend and made the decision on Monday on his X account.
Tim Albin, his former head coach at OU, was named head coach with Charlotte in December and brought Taylor’s linebackers coach, Nate Faanes, with him to run the defense and coach linebackers.
Taylor will be joined by another Bobcat transfer linebacker, Kadin Schmitz, and both are projected starters with the 49ers with their experience and productivity in Faanes’ scheme. They helped the Bobcats finish 11-3, including a 7-1 record in Mid-American Conference play, and lead a defense that averaged a MAC-best 18.1 points per game.
Taylor’s 10 tackles-for-losses ranked 17th in the MAC and trailed only teammate Bradley Weaver among OU players. He also forced two fumbles.
They join a 33-man recruiting class, the first under Albin after he left Athens in December. Taylor is the only Ohio native in the group.
Taylor was a first-team All-Ohio linebacker with the Generals before choosing the Bobcats as their final signee in 2020. He became a third-team All-MAC performer as a fourth-year junior after emerging as a starter during the Myrtle Beach Bowl the previous season.
This story will be updated.
sblackbu@gannett.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR
