Brock Taylor grew up in Knoxville. Why he chose Vanderbilt football over Tennessee

Brock Taylor grew up thinking he would play for Tennessee.

The Knoxville Catholic alum was one of the top kickers in the country, and in high school, he began being recruited by the Tennessee staff.

But the Vols were in turmoil at that time. There was lots of coaching turnover, and Tennessee had scholarship penalties after the Jeremy Pruitt recruiting scandal. Because of that, the Vols couldn't afford to give a scholarship to a kicker. They wanted Taylor as a preferred walk-on.

That's where Vanderbilt football came in.

"Vanderbilt stepped in and said, 'You're not a walk-on. You're going to come here and be our guy for the next four years and we're going to place that bet on you,'" Taylor said Aug. 13. " ... That's all I needed to hear. I already loved the staff and everything. I wanted to go to a better school than Tennessee."

After redshirting his freshman season, Taylor broke out as a sophomore in 2024, making 18 of his 21 field goal attempts and setting a school record with a 57-yard field goal. That year, he was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award for the nation's best kicker.

His 2025 numbers declined through no fault of his own. With the Commodores having such an explosive offense, Taylor only had the chance to attempt one field goal per game on average. He made 13 of his 14 attempts to go along with 60-for-61 on extra points. To go along with that, Taylor experienced the program's first 10-win season ever and a win over the Vols.

It's a tradeoff Taylor will happily take.

"I'd rather win than everything," Taylor said. "I love to win, whether it's in the kicking game or in general, and truthfully our offense proved themselves time and time again, that if we're going to go for it on fourth down, we're going to get it. And so all I do in those situations is just support and know that the coaches know if we need a field goal, I'll be prepared."

Beating Tennessee was special for Taylor. When Taylor took his official visit to Vanderbilt, assistant coach Jamaal Richardson told him that while Taylor was there, the Commodores would go to Knoxville and win.

During game week, Taylor got plenty of texts, many along the lines of "Good luck to everybody on that field, hopefully you play good," he said.

"To me, that's a diss, in my opinion," Taylor said. "No matter who it's coming from, it could be my uncle or anything. For me, I want to win that game every time we play them."

However many opportunities Taylor gets this season, it will be hard to top what he's already done. His coaches believe he can, though. Vanderbilt's special teams coaches are comfortable with him attempting kicks up to the low-60s in yardage.

One area for growth for Taylor is kickoffs. Last season, Taylor primarily focused on kicking the ball into the end zone for touchbacks, but this season, with kick coverage improved, the Commodores want him to try some kicks that don't reach the end zone to try to pin opponents deep.

"He's had a great career," assistant special teams coach Shane Gallant said. "On the field, obviously, he's accomplished a bunch. Field goal wise, we really do trust him to go out there and make kicks from all over the field. ... We're really looking to take a jump in (field position), and that's going to start with kickoff coverage. That's going to start with Brock hanging kicks up for our kickoff guys to get down there and make plays."

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Brock Taylor grew up in Knoxville. Why he chose Vanderbilt football over Tennessee