Get to know Taylor Powell

PowerMizzou.com: Why did you decide to flip from Wake Forest to Missouri? What was your reasoning behind it?

Powell: “Coach (Josh) Heupel’s been recruiting me for about two years now, so basically since the beginning of my junior year. I’ve always had a relationship with him and he’s always told me that I’ve been their guy and although they offered some quarterbacks that everyone else offered, but I’m the first quarterback that Coach Heupel has recruited, like him recruiting at Mizzou. That was a really big honor for me to be his guy, especially when he could’ve chosen anyone in the country. Basically, I’ve had a relationship with Coach Heupel for so long and whenever they decided they were going to take a quarterback for this class he offered me after Coach (Barry) Odom said they were going to take a quarterback. The only people that would’ve flipped me from Wake Forest were going to be Mizzou because it’s been my dream school since I’ve been in the sixth grade. I used to remember watching Chase Daniel and I could just see myself having a great career and be the best opportunity for me. It’s also closer to home. I’m getting to play in the SEC and they have a nice medical field there. Also, my ability to fit into the offense and be explosive and my relationship with Coach Odom and Coach Heupel and DaRon Davis and Jamal Brooks, it just felt like home and I knew it was the right place for me to be.”

PowerMizzou.com: When they offered you, did you immediately flip or did you have to think it over?

Powell: “I got offered two weeks before I tweeted it out because I didn’t want any controversy to go out to the media. During those two weeks, I really took some time and made a list of pros and cons and then went up and officially visited one weekend. It wasn’t like it was going to be easy for me to flip because I really was comfortable with Wake Forest, but at the end of the day I just felt like Mizzou was the place for me and I’m really excited to get in there and compete and start building towards winning an SEC Championship.”

PowerMizzou.com: How does your experience in your high school offense translate to what Missouri runs?

Powell: “Yeah, I’ve had three different offensive coordinators in three years so I feel like I’m really comfortable in learning a new offense. My sophomore year, I was in a pro-style and then the last two years was a spread system. I’m really comfortable with anything, whether it is under center or in the gun making full field reads. Coach Heupel said that he thinks I am really intelligent in the film room and he feels like with my skill set and his ability to develop quarterbacks that we can take Mizzou football to the next level with this recruiting class and the coaches and the players already on campus.”

PowerMizzou.com: How open was the coaching staff that Drew Lock is the starting quarterback? Did they tell you the competition would be open?

Powell: “They were very open with that. Coach Odom said that if he was going to take a quarterback in this class it was going to be somebody that maybe after a year of learning has the ability to come in and start. Of course nothing is going to ever be handed to you in college, I don’t want to be out there at all because coaches never say that you’re going to have the starting spot in two years. All you can ask for is the ability to compete and I just feel like Mizzou is the best place for me to compete and raise the competition in the QB room and hopefully make our team better. Whether I’m playing or not, I just want Mizzou to have the best quarterback on the field so we can win a lot of ball games.”

PowerMizzou.com: What would you say are some of your strengths? What about your weaknesses?

Powell: “I would say my strengths are my I.Q., my arm strength, my accuracy, my ability to move in the pocket, my ability to improvise, my leadership and being able to relate to guys, also being able to anticipate and throw guys open. I feel like I can make all the throws from sideline to sideline and down the field. One thing that is my weakness is that I’m not 6-foot-4, but I feel like I play a lot like Chase Daniel, Drew Brees, and Aaron Murray. I feel like those are the guys that I’m like and as you see all of those guys have played on Sundays. I just feel like I’ve got a lot to prove. You can always get a stronger arm, and you can always get faster, you can always get smarter, but I feel like I’m coming in with a really good skill set in the most humble way and I feel like I’m really ready to get in there and compete.”

PowerMizzou.com: What do you plan on majoring in?

Powell: “I’m not really sure yet. I would just say something medical since I’ve grown up around it. My dad is an orthopedic surgeon, so I’ve always grown up with a medical background.”

PowerMizzou.com: Normally, quarterbacks commit early during the recruiting cycle. How different was that for you, especially since you committed to Missouri right at the end and didn’t get to do much recruiting for the Tigers?

Powell: “I definitely was trying to be a recruiter for Wake Forest and I was really comfortable with the place. They have a great school and they have a lot of great things going on over there. Yeah, you want to be the guy that recruits and is the leader of the class, and I feel like once I committed I fit in with some of the natural born leaders in the class like Jamal Brooks and DaRon Davis. So, no matter how long you’ve been committed, you walk in to Missouri as a family. I threw to Daron at the Rivals Camp in Missouri and we both won MVP and I knew there that I wanted to play with this guy because he is really special. I also knew that since he was already committed, he was trying to get me to go there and I told him that I didn’t have an offer at the time, but it was a really great school and I would love to hear from them. So, at the end of it all, just to say that I got to go to the place that I really wanted to go is really exciting.”

PowerMizzou.com: Missouri fans did not get to really follow your recruitment because you committed so late. So, what would you say to Missouri fans who don’t really know you all that well?

Powell: “It’s hard to describe how when you are a young kid and you dream of playing college football at a certain school and then you get to. I grew up in Fayetteville, but if you ask my closest friends they would tell you that I’ve been a Mizzou fan since sixth grade. I loved watching them throw the ball all over the field and that is how I feel in love. For me to be able to sit here and to say that I’m going to go play college football at Missouri is an honor. What I want Mizzou fans to know is what you’re getting in me is a leader and a guy who will always go out and compete. I’m really excited about being a Tiger. I’m also really excited about bringing some championships to Columbia and I’m really excited about Coach Odom’s mission and I really see myself excelling at Mizzou for four to five years.