Jerry Rice, arguably the greatest football player to ever live, grew up in a predominantly Black, east-central Mississippi town with no streetlights, sidewalks, or traffic signs. 

He was the son of a brick mason and spent his summers atop scaffolds catching and stacking bricks with his five brothers to keep the assembly line moving. 

No major programs recruited Rice out of B.L. Moor High School. He ended up at Mississippi Valley State University, where he played for head coach Archie “The Gunslinger” Cooley, whose teams threw at an alarming rate. 

Cooley’s first-of-its-kind offense was dubbed “The Satellite Express” and featured a quarterback under center with five wideouts on the field at once. The offense never used a huddle and lined up with four receivers on one side of the field. 

The 1984 Delta Devils had the best season in program history by going 9-2 and finishing sixth in the Division I-AA (now FCS) polls. Mississippi Valley State scored 60.9 points per game, still a record. They scored 70 or more points four times and hung 86 on Kentucky State to open the season. 

That fall, Jerry Rice had arguably the greatest season in college football history. He shattered Division I-AA records for receptions and receiving yards, scored 27 touchdowns, and finished ninth in Heisman Trophy voting. 

More than 40 years later, Kamario Taylor, a 19-year-old quarterback from Macon, Mississippi, 15 miles from Rice’s hometown of Crawford, chose to stay home.

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You can’t understand Kamario Taylor without understanding where he’s from.

Macon, Mississippi, is a town of roughly 2,500 people nestled along the Noxubee River. It’s a place defined by agriculture, hard-working locals, and a close-knit community. 

One of the defining aspects of the town is the Noxubee County Library, a Romanesque building from 1907 that originally served as a jail. The other is the Black Prairie Blues Trail marker honoring Macon natives and Chicago-style blues legends such as Carey Bell, Willie King, and Eddie “The Chief” Clearwater.

One of the few constants in a town this size is the unwavering love for high school football. 

High school football in Mississippi is as ingrained in the culture as Sunday church services. It’s the sport that turns boys into men. It’s when whole towns shut down on Friday nights. It’s where you can find patchy grass fields, metal bleachers, and bugs swarming under stadium lights. It’s not quite Texas high school football, but it’s not trying to be. 

The Noxubee County High School football program is synonymous with winning. The school has five state titles and 16 district championships. It’s the place where Mississippi State alum and current NFL superstar Jeffery Simmons got his start. 

But as far as local legends go, Taylor is arguably the greatest. 

Noxubee County High School head coach Teddy Young describes Taylor as a “natural leader,” even as a young quarterback throwing to upperclassmen receivers. Kids in Macon still talk about Taylor’s toughness and work ethic.

During his sophomore season, Taylor suffered a hairline fracture in his ankle in Week 2, returned seven weeks later, and led the Tigers to the 3A title game. A year later, Taylor got national buzz after capping a 63-touchdown season with a 352-yard, three-touchdown state title performance against Winona High School. He finished his high school career with a third-straight state championship game appearance while earning Mississippi 3A Mr. Football honors.

Renowned Mississippi author William Faulkner once said, “Our most treasured family heirloom is our sweet family memories.” 

Mississippi State football has been a big part of Taylor’s young life. He grew up in the shadow of Starkville, a mere 35 minutes from Davis-Wade Stadium. He never missed a Mississippi State home game during his senior season. He even watched his cousin, Omarr Conner, now the assistant coach and co-offensive coordinator at Hinds Community College (MS), play quarterback and receiver for the Bulldogs in the mid-2000s after an illustrious high school career at Noxubee County. 

During his high school recruiting process, Taylor had options. He was a prolific four-star quarterback being courted by big-name SEC schools like Georgia and Missouri. But Taylor is loyal to Mississippi through and through. 

He committed to the Bulldogs during his junior season and stayed true to his commitment even after current head coach Jeff Lebby took over in Starkville. After a playoff game in November 2023, a local reporter asked him what Mississippi State fans could expect from him when he arrived on campus. His answer was straightforward: “Greatness.”

The Taylor family ties to Mississippi State got stronger a year later, when his brother, Jaiden Taylor, a three-star wide receiver, also committed to play for the Bulldogs.

Despite Taylor’s sky-high potential, he had to wait his turn to show off what he could do in a Bulldog uniform. 

During the 2025 season, former Baylor transfer Blake Shapen took most of the first-team reps and helped guide the Bulldogs to an upset over ranked Arizona State and near-upsets over SEC foes Tennessee and Texas. 

But after back-to-back losses to Georgia and Missouri (ironically, the two schools that had shown interest in Taylor), Lebby knew it was time to make a change. In the lead-up to the annual Egg Bowl against bitter rivals Ole Miss, he kept the quarterback change in-house, with Taylor’s family unaware he’d make a surprise start in the final regular-season game. 

In a loss against Ole Miss, Taylor did not disappoint. He was only so-so as a passer but showed off his electric playmaking, reeling off a game-high 173 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. 

Even in a loss, it felt like a passing-of-the-torch moment for the Bulldogs’ football program. 

“As we continue to build it the right way and build these pieces of the roster around (Taylor), that’s going to be really important,” Lebby said in the post-game presser. “...I think we have somebody that’s going to catch a snap every single down and is going to be an elite player in this conference and in America.” 

This fall, Taylor is the unquestioned starter and someone national pundits believe could be a breakout star in a loaded SEC landscape. 

If Week 1 is any indication, Taylor is in for one heck of a season. In a blowout win over Louisiana Monroe, Taylor lit up the Warhawks for 354 passing yards and four touchdowns. His final pass of the night went viral on social media, with The Ringer’s Todd McShay and ESPN’s Max Olson gushing over the caliber of the throw. 

On Saturday, Taylor and the Bulldogs will face their first big test of the season on the road against Minnesota. It’s a game that carries a lot of weight for both programs and features another rising star at quarterback: Drake Lindsey, the Gophers’ signal-caller. 

Nothing in college football is a sure thing. The sport’s history is littered with promising young players who, for whatever reason, never hit their ceiling. But Taylor might be one of the rare exceptions. 

Taylor needs to keep getting more comfortable in the offense. He needs to show consistency in the passing game. But his running abilities are undeniable, making him the type of X-factor Lebby and the Bulldogs have been searching for.

Jerry Rice didn’t choose to stay home. 

Nobody gave him an option. He ended up at Mississippi Valley State because it was the only school that came calling. 

Taylor had options, real ones like Georgia and Missouri. He chose his family, his cousin’s alma mater, and the school in Starkville where he could play with his brother.

More than 40 years and 15 miles of Mississippi highway separate them. But in places like Macon and Crawford, where Friday night lights burn bright and legends are made between those white lines, that distance doesn’t feel very far at all. 

College Football Week 2 is here, and the schedule gets serious in a hurry. The biggest game of the weekend sends No. 1 Ohio State to Austin to face No. 4 Texas in a matchup that already feels like it could shape the College Football Playoff race. We break down the biggest questions on both sides, from Ohio State’s new-look offense and running game to Arch Manning, Texas’ defense and the small margins that could decide one of the best games of the entire season.

Before we get there, Oklahoma heads to the Big House for a fascinating test against Michigan. How much should we read into Michigan’s shaky Week 1 performance? Can Bryce Underwood respond against a much tougher defense, and is Oklahoma ready to take advantage? We also dig into Arizona State-Texas A&M, Oregon-Oklahoma State, Arizona-BYU, Alabama-Kentucky, Tennessee-Georgia Tech, Iowa State-Iowa, Missouri-Kansas and plenty more.

It is one of those Saturdays where you may want to wake up, get moving and make sure you are properly prepared for what is coming. We make our picks, find the best under-the-radar games, lock up a few favorites and identify the window where you absolutely need to be in front of a screen.

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