Football season doesn't officially
start for almost seven more months, but cornerback Ike Taylor is preparing as if
the opener were tomorrow.
Taylor began his off-season program at the
start of February, working with Tom Shaw, a conditioning coach based out of
Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida.
"I felt like coming off of last year
as a team we didn't have a good season and this year I want to help my team out
as much as possible," said Taylor. "I am not looking back. This is my
fifth year and I know expectations are high for me. I have high expectations
myself.
"I am just getting back into it. I
took a good month off. That is something I never did in my whole life. Everyone
was telling me I was training for so long without taking a break that it would
be good for me to take a break and come back and give it all you've got. I
always give it all I've got."
Taylor is working out several days a week,
spending time on cardio and speed as well as drills that are designed
specifically for his position.
"Whatever position you play you have
a drill for it," said Taylor. "We do a couple of resistance
drills. We do lot of metabolic stuff, a lot of cardio. You get two days of
metabolic and cardio and two days of speed and conditioning. At the same time
every day you are working on your position. The defensive backs are working on
breaks and catching the ball. We are working with resistance. Coming out of your
breaks you should have resistance."
Taylor will stay in
Florida working out until about a week
before the team comes back for voluntary workouts in
Pittsburgh. He plans to get in a little early
as he is looking forward to meeting new head coach Mike Tomlin.
"I am going to come and talk to the
new coach," said Taylor. "I have talked to him a couple of
times over the phone. He seems like a great guy. Coach Tomlin is young, he is
hungry and I have heard great things about him from people he coached and people
who know him."
And
Taylor is hoping to come back to a fresh
start. Last season was disappointing for him, seeing the team go from Super Bowl
champs to missing the playoffs.
"It was hard," said
Taylor. "Our expectations were higher than
what we had coming off the Super Bowl year."
It wasn't just the team's struggles that made 2006
hard for Taylor; it was the tough time he went
through on the field personally. Taylor was benched during the season for
five games because of his disappointing play, replaced in the lineup by Bryant
McFadden.
"It was hard; it was real hard on
me," said Taylor. "I didn't like it. Me being a
professional and coming off the year I had in 2005, it was so hard on me. I was
so hard on myself. I didn't want to do anything. I didn't want to talk to
anybody. I just couldn't wait to get back on the field.
"It's all about playing football. I
wanted to be on the field with the guys. That's what I really missed, not being
on the field with the guys play in and play out. I got back in the last game and
enjoyed it."
And
Taylor is thinking about that time now,
keeping it in his mind so he doesn't have a repeat of it in the
future.
"I can't let that ever happen again,
ever," said Taylor. "I feel like at this point in time
going into my fifth year everything has happened to me. I want to try to help
the team out and get us back to the Super Bowl. That's all I can do, 100% help
the team out.
"I have always been driven. That's
the way I always have been. I know how I am going to respond."
It wasn't just the team's struggles that made 2006
hard for 