LSU’s Taylor ‘a good fit’

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Sep 4, 2009 - Page: 1C

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Last week was a tough for Brandon Taylor.

He was so sick with the flu, he was hospitalized as his LSU teammates began preparations for their season opener against Washington.

But this week quickly brought a better outlook for the sophomore from Franklinton.

On Monday, he saw his name at the top of the Tigers depth chart at strong safety heading into Saturday’s game in Seattle. And he returned to practice that day “feeling good, too good,” he said Tuesday.

“The first couple of plays moved kind of fast,” he said of his return. “But stuff slowed down and I got comfortable.”

One might get comfortable with the idea of Taylor as a starter in the Tigers secondary. He went through a competitive battle for the job with Karnell Hatcher through August camp and, after he became ill last week, there was a late challenge when backup free safety Danny McCray was moved to strong safety for a couple of days at practice.

Head coach Les Miles said on his radio show last week that McCray might end up being the opening day starter at safety.

But come Monday, it was Taylor, a converted cornerback, whose name was at the top of the list.

“That just shows that the coaches have confidence in me after me not being out here a week,” he said. “They put me back at starter…I feel good.”

Miles said Taylor is a good fit for the position.

“He has great speed, he understands the scheme and he’s a very physical player, a tackler,” Miles said. “To stand back there, you have to get to the ball. He has ball skills, but you have to be able to tackle and he does tackle.”

He’s part of a secondary, and a defense, that’s a bit smaller and faster than last year’s defense. Taylor’s listed at 191 pounds on the LSU roster and said he wants to play at closer to 195 pounds. He said his weight gain goals were not sidetracked by his illness.

“I actually gained weight when I was in the hospital,” said Taylor, who said he tested negative for the dreaded H1N1 “swine flu” strain. “They actually fed me steak, fish. They fed me good up in there.”