Michael Taylor ( American football ) Michael A . Taylor is a former American football player . He played at the quarterback position for the University of Michigan from 1986 to 1989 , the final four years of Bo Schembechler ' s tenure as the school ' s head football coach . He was Michigan ' s starting quarterback in 1988 and 1989 and led the Wolverines to Big Ten Conference championships both years . He finished his career at Michigan as the school ' s all - time leader in passing efficiency . Early years . Taylor was raised by his mother and grandmother in Lincoln Heights , Ohio . Taylor credited them for instilling his desire to win : " They gave me my sense of values and drive to excel . I have to do everything as well as I can to let them know how much I love and appreciate them for heading me in the right direction . " Taylor attended Princeton High School in Sharonville , Ohio . University of Michigan . 1986 season . Taylor enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1985 . As a redshirt freshman in 1986 , Taylor appeared briefly in 4 games , rushing for 33 yards on 5 carries and scoring a touchdown against Illinois . 1987 season . As a sophomore in 1987 , Taylor appeared in 7 games for Michigan , including 2 games as the starting quarterback . Taylor threw his first touchdown pass for Michigan in a backup role against Wisconsin . He got his first start after junior quarterback Demetrius Brown broke the thumb on his throwing hand in the Indiana game . Prior to Brown ' s thumb injury , Taylor had completed only 9 of 21 pass attempts for 133 yards , 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown . At the time , Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler expressed confidence in Taylor , telling the press : " Michael Taylor is a fine quarterback . He ' s smart . He ' s a good quarterback . If we have to play Taylor , we ' ll be all right . " Taylor got the start at quarterback against Northwestern , but Schembechler kept to a running game due to the inexperience of his quarterback . Michigan rushed 50 times in the game for 374 yards and passed only 5 times – the fewest pass attempts by a Michigan team since 1977 . Despite the emphasis on the running game , Taylor proved to be the star of the game , as he rushed for 144 yards , averaged 10 . 3 yards per carry , and scored two touchdowns . Taylor had a 65 - yard touchdown run and had runs of 31 yards in the second quarter and 39 yards in the third quarter set up field goals by Mike Gillette . Despite the solid performance against Northwestern , Taylor pulled a leg muscle in the game , and Demetrius Brown recovered sufficiently to resume his role as the starting quarterback for the remaining 4 games of the 1987 season . Taylor also got the starting assignment in Michigan ' s 28 – 24 victory over Alabama in the January 1988 Hall of Fame Bowl , completing 2 of 4 pass attempts and rushing for 11 yards . 1988 season . At the start of the 1988 season , Michigan faced a quarterback controversy . Demetrius Brown had been declared academically ineligible earlier in the year , but regained his eligibility before the season started . Taylor had missed spring practice due to a hamstring pull , leaving Coach Schembechler worried about the quarterback position . At the time , Taylor was considered the team ' s best option offense quarterback , but he had completed only 41 % of his passes in 1987 . Shortly before the season opener against Notre Dame , Schembechler announced that Taylor would be his starting quarterback . Schembechler noted that Taylor " has thrown well , has run well , knows the offense and is getting us into the right plays . " Taylor ended up starting 9 of 12 games for the 1988 Michigan football team that finished the season with a 9 – 2 – 1 record ( 7 – 0 – 1 in the Big Ten ) , won the Big Ten Conference championship and defeated USC in the 1989 Rose Bowl . Taylor completed 76 of 122 pass attempts for a 62 . 3 % completion percentage and was intercepted only twice . In the season opener against Notre Dame , Schembechler kept the ball on the ground , with 52 running plays and only 11 pass attempts . Michigan lost a close game 19 – 17 , as Taylor completed 8 of 11 pass attempts for 74 yards and scored one of Michigan ' s two rushing touchdowns . Taylor had his best game of the 1988 season in a 31 – 30 loss to the No . 1 ranked Miami Hurricanes on September 17 , 1988 . Taylor nearly led the Wolverines to an upset win to break Miami ' s 33 - game regular season winning streak , but the defense gave up 17 points in the final 5 minutes and 24 seconds to allow Miami to come from behind to win the game . Taylor did his part , completing 16 of 24 pass attempts for 214 yards and three touchdowns . " The Washington Post " praised Michigan ' s passing game : " Employing a combination of its usual righteous conservatism with a startlingly effective passing game , the Wolverines incited an overflow crowd of 105 , 834 in the broad , intimidating sweep of Michigan Stadium by outright dominating the Hurricanes , the defending national champions , for most of four quarters . A mulish , persistent quarterback named Michael Taylor threw scoring passes of five , 18 and 16 yards , the latter to take a 30 – 14 lead with 10 : 32 left . " The " Associated Press " also praised Taylor ' s performance : " Miami ' s comeback overcame a brilliant performance by Michigan quarterback Michael Taylor , who was shaken up twice but returned to throw three touchdown passes . " After losing the first two games of the season , the Wolverines were 9 – 0 – 1 in the final ten games . One sports writer praised Taylor ' s performance in the first 8 games as follows : " Taylor has been everything Brown wasn ' t . He has a better understanding of the offense , is more poised , reads defenses better , and runs better . He was intercepted just twice in 122 passes this season . " After playing well in the first 8 games of the season , Taylor broke his collarbone on the first offensive play in the Minnesota game and had to undergo surgery two days later . He was unable to play in the final regular season games against Illinois and Ohio State and in the 1989 Rose Bowl game against USC . Taylor was the Big Ten ' s passing efficiency leader for the 1988 season . 1989 season . As a senior , Taylor started 8 of 12 games for the 1989 Michigan football team that finished the season with a 10 – 2 record ( 8 – 0 in the Big Ten ) , won the Big Ten Conference championship and lost to USC in the 1990 Rose Bowl . Taylor completed 74 of 121 pass attempts for 1 , 081 yards and 11 touchdowns in 1989 . In the weeks before the season opener , the press focused on Taylor ' s physical condition . He had been nursing a sore shoulder in his throwing arm two weeks before the opener and missed the first week of practice . Coach Schembechler called it " the great Michael Taylor scare , " and with news that Taylor would play , the " Associated Press " reported , " The Michael Taylor scare is over . " Taylor noted , " I can throw freely and it doesn ' t hurt . I ' m close to 100 percent and never even thought of not playing . " Assistant coach Gary Moeller explained that Taylor ' s injury problem had been caused by the fact that " he didn ' t know how to throw properly until he came to Michigan . " Taylor had been " flinging the ball with his arm , " Moeller noted , instead of using his whole body and sometimes reverted to that habit . Despite the pain , Taylor vowed to give it his best effort against Notre Dame , saying , " I was raised to play football only one way , and that ' s giving 110 percent . " Michigan and Notre Dame entered the season opener as the No . 1 and No . 2 ranked teams in college football . Taylor started the game against Notre Dame and completed 5 of 6 passes , including a touchdown , but he left the game after injuring his back . Taylor was replaced with freshman Elvis Grbac in the Notre Dame game . After the loss of Taylor , Schembechler questioned his decision to let the injured Taylor play : " I suppose if I had to do it all over again , I probably should have started Elvis and let the chips fall where they may . To be honest with you , Taylor didn ' t throw a pass all week . He ' s got a bad arm right now . But he ' s a great competitor . He wanted to go . He felt he ' d be able to throw the ball all right . " Schembechler added , " Michael Taylor is a fifth - year quarterback . He ' s the leader of our team . Hell ' s afire , we send him out there with a bad arm . If Michael ' s healthy , you ' ll see a difference . " Taylor was unable to play in the following four games against UCLA , Maryland , Wisconsin and Michigan State . Grbac performed well as Taylor ' s replacement , leading to speculation that he might retain the starting job even after Taylor recovered . Coach Schembechler denied there was any controversy , and Taylor returned to the line - up in the fifth game against Iowa . Taylor was impressive in his return , completing 11 of 15 pass attempts , including 2 touchdown passes , and also scored a rushing touchdown as the Wolverines beat the Hawkeyes 26 – 12 . After the game , Taylor said , " I think I did all right . I took what the defense gave me . " The following week , Taylor again performed well , completing 11 of 18 pass attempts against Indiana and threw touchdown passes of 18 yards to Greg McMurtry and 43 yards to Derrick Alexander . As Michigan continued to win under Taylor , Schembechler noted , " We ' ve been more productive on offense since Michael came back , because he ' s so dangerous on the option play . I don ' t have any problem with Grbac at quarterback , but we ' re a better team when Taylor ' s in there . He ' s a fifth - year senior who makes few mistakes . We were counting on him in spring practice , gearing the season toward him . " Taylor had the best game of his career in a 49 – 15 victory over Minnesota on November 18 , 1989 . Taylor completed 12 of 16 pass attempts for 231 yards . He also tied a Michigan record with four touchdown passes , including three touchdown passes to Greg McMurtry of 49 , 34 and 25 yards . In the final game at Michigan Stadium for Taylor as a player and for Schembechler as head coach , Taylor led the Wolverines to a 28 – 18 victory over Ohio State . Taylor played the entire game and ran for 57 yards on 8 carries for an average of 7 . 1 yards per carry . He was also 8 for 16 passing , completed a 5 - yard touchdown pass to Jarrod Bunch . Taylor also had 2 turnovers in game , fumbling the ball at Ohio State ' s 22 - yard line and throwing an interception on the second play of the second half . 1990 Rose Bowl . The Wolverines won the Big Ten championship and advanced to the Rose Bowl . As the starting quarterback in the Rose Bowl , Taylor was the subject of extensive pre - game publicity . In a pre - game profile of Taylor published by " USA Today " , Michigan offensive coordinator Gary Moeller said , " He ' s kind of a Joe Kapp , throw - it - end - over - end guy . He ' s not a great physical thrower . We all know that . " At the same time , Moeller praises Taylor ' s instincts and intelligence : " He ' s good because he goes back there and finds the right receiver to throw to and gets it there . " On hearing about Moeller ' s comments , Taylor said , " I never saw Joe Kapp , but what I know is that I just go out and play , and I don ' t listen to the critics . I know I can move this team . " As the game approached , media attention focused on reports that Taylor ' s right shoulder was sore . Taylor said , " A lot of people question my health and my arm , but I just put that out of my mind . I don ' t really care what people say . I ' m just going to go out and do my job . " In the Rose Bowl , Taylor was held to 10 of 19 passing for 115 yards . In post - game coverage , reporters credited USC ' s coaches for letting loose the " full complement of defensive linemen and pass - rushing linebackers at Michigan quarterback Michael Taylor during the final series , " with the result that " Taylor ended the Rose Bowl on his back , the victim of a sack . " Career totals . In his three years as a quarterback at Michigan ( 1987 – 1989 ) , Taylor completed 163 of 275 pass attempts for 2 , 194 yards and had 17 touchdown passes , 7 interceptions , and a career completion percentage of 59 . 3 % . At conclusion of his career at Michigan , he ranked first all - time among Michigan quarterbacks in passing efficiency , and his 59 . 3 % completion percentage ranked second all - time , trailing only Jim Harbaugh .