Minnesota's Darius Taylor is a RISING STAR in the Big Ten | Elite RB ready to IGNITE Gophers offense

Intro Darius I like this this formal look we got the we got the tuxedo oh yeah with the shaw collar man how how do we decide how we're going to look at media days cuz this is the this is you know introducing yourself to the world here um honestly I keep it all natural you know just the black just black and white keep it real simple um I'm a little different with the tux most guys are wearing suits I felt like the tuck was just a little bit more it's a formal occas a little bit more Sleek so you know and we got the Louis V Tha and you can't see him we'll take a picture though we got the Louis V shoes oh yeah that that is I'm getting used to that like the are they comfortable they are comfortable these are honestly gym shoes really I mean they literally super squishy just feel like gym shoes so all right so so it might be worth the investment that's what I'm trying to figure out I mean you could wear them every day if you really wanted to I'm just not sure if I want to retire my Jordans or dunks for for Louis V's or or how my wife's going to feel about that if I definitely have a lot of Jordans and dunks but I would never retire those for these Burst on the scene so you just sort of burst on the scene last year did you know that that was coming um I mean I knew that I put in the work for it yeah I knew that I understood if if I did my job and and and relied on my old line and tight ends that we to get the job done so I mean I can see it coming and then now you're coming in as a guy who they're relying on they expect big things from how did you handle that this off season with the you know more responsibility more leadership uh the biggest thing was yes becom a leader in the running back room uh we brought in a lot of transfers guys that are older than me but also still being that leader and and and gaining the respect of the transfers and the respect of just the guys in the room as a leader and also just working on myself whether whether it's from working on football or just me as a man um I think that a lot of I needed to fix a lot of things when it came to take care of my body and and things that I need to fix at my position and I think I've done a great job of that and I'm excited how did you adjust taking care of your body cuz that's something that you know I hear college players talk about that a lot now and it's something it's not something you used to hear until guys got to the NFL yeah but how do you what have you changed over the last year or so um I've I've been in the training How have you changed room probably three times as much um I've done a lot more like with my diet and also getting like massages outside of the tea massages and doing things that just just invest in myself just a little bit more I think that it gives you a better chance at playing this violent game um I think that it sets you up if you want to go to the next level it helps you keep some of that tread off your tires as people would say so how much how much time like so you're obviously lifting and running in the offseason and then and then practicing but how much time do you spend a day on kind of the the what do they call it prehab the massages the you know the the different ice ice baths all those things what does that take up of a day right daily all together is probably 2 to three hours wow um but I mean we're in What else would you do the facility all day just as a team doing whether we're running lifting or doing player practices um walkthroughs um so I mean I mean we're in the facility so what else would you be doing honestly that's something that like I've grown and understood like I mean if you're there why not do extra stuff was there a veteran last year who said hey here's how you should be doing that or or is that something that that you just kind of took upon yourself um it's something that coach Fleck kind of instilled in me um him watching Muhammad Ibraham what he did here um and how he took care of his body and and the learning curve that he had from his freshman sophomore year all the way up to his um senior years um I think that he he was pretty educated at what a running back needed to do so he he led me where I needed to be and told me a lot of things that I needed to be doing so how you know you you've been doing all this stuff taking care of your body he had a great freshman season Y but how different could you be as a sophomore um I think that I think that Mindset coach Nick mckisic Luke um my trainer um Joe coach Fleck have prepared me for this season um I'm not really looking at any end goals right any in numbers or anything like that I'm kind of just going day by day um going one and0 every day um just winning the day and and getting better each day I think that that's the biggest thing for me right now is that mentality something you've had your whole life cuz I found like most really successful people that's how they operate but I just can't imagine as a young like a really young person thinking that way I I remember when I was young I was always like well got to do this you got to you win this or get this job or do but how do you adjust your mindset so you're just thinking about I'm going to dominate this rep or I'm going to dominate this this hour um I think that everybody has end goals so I mean you have to have a big picture and a goal and my goal is is to make it to the next level right um and the small ements that you have in between you don't really have to pay those attention because if put in the work today put in the work tomorrow that like those things will come true so you don't really focus on the end goal um I think that that's just something that's been instilled in me my whole life um the end goal is going to come if you put in the work now so favorite PJ Fleck saying I know he has a million of them what's your favorite one um I'd say just respond respond yeah yeah that's something he says to me a lot every time you you know you make a mistake in practice or or even you get tired he just says respond or let the other man get tired I like that oh yeah so when he says what's up how you doing do you say you're Elite yes it's part of the culture I mean that's just I'm doing let's define it how does one feel Elite like do you wake up feeling Elite do you always wake up feeling Elite or do you have to make yourself Elite some days to feel Elite you have to just know that you have to have perspective um there's children in in our Minnesota our Masonic Children's Hospital that that are going through way more than we're going through no matter what you're going through um like in the grand scheme of things it's nothing this is just a game football is so I mean having a like last year I had a hamstring um having a hamstring is nothing compared to a kid in the hospital with terminal illness so um it's a lot of perspective so I mean yes I'm doing Elite even if I'm going through an injury or if I'm having a bad day I'm still Elite just because there's people that going through things that are way worse than me so Elite answer Elite perspective thank you so much thank you thank you so much for watching just a reminder subscribe to this channel right here so you never miss an episode of Andy Staples on 3 and oh by the way watch all the other great videos on the on3 sports YouTube channel