Who is Taylor Mays - Safety - USC Trojans Football.

Class: Senior
Hometown: Seattle, WA
High School: O'Dea
Height / Weight: 6-3 / 230
Position: S
Birthdate: 02/07/1988
Experience: 2V

2009: The hard-hitting Mays, a 2-time All-American first teamer who is a leading candidate for the Thorpe Award, returns for his fourth season as the starting free safety as a senior in 2009.

2008: Mays started for his third season at free safety as a junior in 2008 and had a highly-decorated season. Overall in 2008 while starting all 13 games, he had 53 tackles, including 2 for losses of 7 yards, and a team-high 9 deflections. He was named a 2008 consensus All-American first teamer (AP, Football Writers, Walter Camp, Sporting News, ESPN.com, SI.com, CBSSports.com, Phil Steele's, Pro Football Weekly, Collegefootballnews.com) and All-American second teamer (Rivals.com), was among 3 finalists for the 2008 Thorpe Award, made the 2008 All-Pac-10 first team and both Collegefootballnews.com and Phil Steele's All-Pac-10 first teams, and won USC's Bob Chandler Award. He had arthroscopic surgery on his ankle prior to 2008 spring practice. He was named to the 2008 Playboy Pre-Season All-American team.

He had a game-high 6 tackles (1.5 for losses) and a deflection at Virginia, added 8 stops against Ohio State and 6 tackles against both Oregon State and Oregon. He then had 2 tackles against Arizona State, 2 stops (0.5 for a loss at Washington State, 4 tackles at Arizona and 3 tackles and a deflection against Washington. He had 5 tackles and 4 deflections versus California to earn Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week honors. He added 5 tackles at Stanford, 2 stops against Notre Dame and a tackle and deflection at UCLA. He added 4 tackles and a deflection versus Penn State.

2007: After a decorated freshman season in 2006, Mays returned for his second season as the starting free safety as a sophomore in 2007 and continued his stellar play. Overall in 2007 while starting all 13 games, he had 65 tackles (third on USC), 1 interception, 6 deflections, 1 fumble recovery and 1 forced fumble. He was named a 2007 The Sporting News All-American first team, SI.com All-American second team, AP All-American third team, Jewish Sports Review All-American, Collegefootballnews.com Sophomore All-American second team, All-Pac-10 honorable mention and Rivals.com All-Pac-10 first team pick.

He had 5 tackles versus Idaho, 6 stops and a deflection at Nebraska, 3 tackles against Washington State and 2 tackles at Washington. He added 2 tackles, 2 deflections and an interception (to set up an USC TD) against Stanford. He had 4 tackles and forced a fumble against Arizona, then had 5 stops at Notre Dame, a career-best 12 tackles at Oregon, 6 tackles against Oregon State and 10 tackles and 3 deflections (both team highs) at California. He had 4 tackles at Arizona State and 3 stops and a fumble recovery against UCLA. He had 3 tackles against Illinois.

2006: Just a first-year freshman, Mays took over the free safety job in 2006 after Josh Pinkard suffered a season-ending injury in the opener and he ended up starting USC's final 12 games. Overall in 2006 while appearing in all 13 games, he had 62 tackles, a team-best 3 interceptions that he returned 40 yards (13.3 avg.) and 3 deflections. He made the 2006 The Sporting News All-American second team, Collegefootballnews.com Defensive Freshman of the Year, The Sporting News Freshman All-American first team, Rivals.com Freshman All-American first team, Scout.com Freshman All-American first team and Rivals.com All-Pac-10 second team and was named Pac-10 Co-Freshman of the Year, The Sporting News Pac-10 Defensive Freshman of the Year and Rivals.com Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.

After getting 2 tackles at Arkansas, he had 5 tackles against Nebraska while starting for the first time at free safety. He then had 3 tackles at Arizona, 4 tackles, a deflection and an interception near the goal line on the game's last play at Washington State, 8 stops with a deflection against Washington and a tackle versus Arizona State. He made a game-best 11 tackles (with a deflection) at Oregon State, added 4 stops at Stanford, had 4 tackles and returned an interception 38 yards against Oregon and 6 tackles and an interception against California. He had 7 tackles against Notre Dame, 3 at UCLA and 4 versus Michigan.

HIGH SCHOOL: He was named a 2005 Parade All-American (he was the defensive back MVP), USA Today All-USA first team, EA Sports All-American first team, Super Prep Elite 50, Prep Star Dream Team, ESPN 150, Super Prep All-American, Prep Star All-American, U.S. Army All-American Game participant, Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year, Super Prep All-Farwest, Prep Star All-Western, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West first team, Orange County Register Fab 15 first team, Tacoma News-Tribune Western 100, Tacoma News Tribune Northwest Nugget, Gatorade Washington Player of the Year, All-State first team and All-Metro League Mountain Division Offensive MVP and Defensive Co-MVP pick as a senior defensive back, wide receiver and quarterback at O'Dea High in Seattle, Wash. He had 166 tackles, 5 interceptions returned for 98 yards (19.6 avg.) and 5 deflections in 2005, plus caught 36 passes for 765 yards (21.3 avg.) with 15 TDs and rushed for 3 more scores.

As a junior in 2004, he made Student Sports Junior All-American while posting 89 tackles, 5 interceptions and 5 deflections, catching 25 passes for 614 yards (20.6 avg.) with 7 TDs and returning 12 punts for 392 yards (32.7 avg.) with 3 TDs.

He also ran track (best of 10.88 in the 100 meters) at O'Dea, where he was a 2-time (2004-05) state 3A champion in the 100 and 200 meters.

PERSONAL: He's a sociology major at USC. His father, Stafford Mays, was a defensive lineman at Washington in 1978 and 1979 who then played in the NFL with the St. Louis Cardinals (1980-86) and Minnesota Vikings (1987-88 when current USC head coach Pete Carroll was an assistant coach there).

TAC LS/YDS DFL FR INT YDS AVG TD LG
2006 (Fr.)... 62 0/0 3 0 3 40 13.3 0 38
2007 (So.)... 65 0/0 6 1 1 0 0.0 0 0
2008 (Jr.)... 53 2/7 9 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
CAREER....... 180 2/7 18 1 4 40 10.0 0 38

GAME-BY-GAME WITH TAYLOR MAYS

2008

TAC LS/YDS DFL FR
Virginia* 6 1.5/3 1 0
Ohio State* 7 0/0 0 0
Oregon St.* 6 0/0 0 0
Oregon * 6 0/0 0 0
Arizona St.* 2 0/0 1 0
Wash. St.* 2 0.5/4 0 0
Arizona* 4 0/0 0 0
Washington* 3 0/0 1 0
California* 5 0/0 4 0
Stanford* 5 0/0 0 0
Notre Dame* 2 0/0 0 0
UCLA* 1 0/0 1 0
Penn St. (RB)* 4 0/0 1 0
2008 (Jr.)... 53 2/7 9 0

2007

TAC LS/YDS DFL FR INT YDS AVG TD LG
Idaho* 5 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Nebraska* 6 0/0 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Wash. St.* 3 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Washington* 2 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Stanford* 2 0/0 2 0 1 0 0.0 0 0
Arizona* 4 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Notre Dame* 5 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Oregon* 12 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Oregon St.* 6 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
California* 10 0/0 3 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Arizona St.* 4 0/0 0 0v0 0 0.0 0 0
UCLA* 3 0/0 0 1 0 0 0.0 0 0
Illinois (RB)* 3 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
2007 (So.)... 65 0/0 6 1 1 0 0.0 0 0

2006

TAC LS/YDS DFL FR INT YDS AVG TD LG
Arkansas 2 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Nebraska* 5 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Arizona* 3 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Wash. St.* 4 0/0 1 0 1 2 2.0 0 2
Washington* 8 0/0 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Arizona St.* 1 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Oregon St.* 11 0/0 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Stanford* 4 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Oregon* 4 0/0 0 0 1 38 38.0 0 38
California* 6 0/0 0 1 0 0.0 0 0
Notre Dame* 7 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
UCLA* 3 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Michigan (RB)* 4 0/0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
2006 (Fr.)... 62 0/0 3 0 3 40 13.3 0 38
*Starter