The authentic and unbridled energy of the Hawkeyes' Miles Taylor

IOWA CITY — For Miles Taylor, this is just one big poetry read back at Gonzaga College High School.

Instead of sitting on a stool, Taylor preaches the day's sermon with a hand raised to the heavens. The "Gonzaga Poets and Writers" banner now is the black helmets of his teammates, all turned toward him. The desks were at one end of the classroom. Now, it's the Hawkeyes huddled in the south end zone of Kinnick Stadium.

The group of 25 or 30 young poets and writers and guidance counselors and teachers is now college football players in eye black and gear, ready for some inspiration from Taylor.

In the minutes before the Hawkeyes (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) warmup before Saturday's game against No. 10 Wisconsin (4-2, 1-2), Taylor will be surrounded by his teammates. He will raise their spirits with his words. He will jump and shout and call to the football gods.

He will lead his teammates into that last-minute yell session. They will listen and their blood will begin to boil.

'It's the emotions I have for the game,' Taylor said. 'I'm ready to go out there and play with all of my brothers.'

The process to pick the player to lead the psych-up is organic (last year it was Jordan Lomax, others have been Mitch King and Christian Kirksey). The leadership group gives it some thought and usually the answer comes up quickly. The key ingredient is authenticity. None of these guys will draw inspiration from a phony.

It was always going to be Taylor for 2016.

'He lives and dies by the game,' quarterback C.J. Beathard said. 'You don't want someone to go in there and try to fake it. Guys notice that. When Miles is in there, you know it's not fake. It comes from his heart.'

It's just one big poetry slam back at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. It's a supersized version of English teacher Joseph Ross' classroom. Taylor is reprising his role as the slam's emcee and everyone remains at full attention.

'He's been one of those guys who gives us so much uplift,' defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson said. 'Even going out to practice, he'll come up and yell at you, punch you in the helmet, whatever it takes to get us fired up.

'We call him 'Reverend Miles' for a reason. Always preaching, always giving the good word before every game.'

Taylor, a political science and journalism major at the UI, took intellect and passion into Mr. Ross' American literature class as a junior at Gonzaga. He ultimately found an outlet.

'He was just on fire to learn about this stuff, to read and to make sense of what some American writers have done, and especially some of the African-American writers,' Ross said. 'He was especially interested in what American literature had to say about race. He was smart, he dove into it. He learned it. He had thoughtful and nuanced insights about the writers we studied. He wrote about it well, too.'

Taylor started writing poetry and Ross encouraged him. One of Taylor's poems still hangs in the poet's corner. It's about riding the Metro subway system in D.C. and being aware of peoples' reactions to him as a young black male.

As Taylor become more and more immersed, Ross decided to have regular student poetry readings. Taylor volunteered to emcee.

You get by now that Taylor doesn't fit any sort of stereotype. He was one of the school's best football players — with offers from Iowa and Georgia Tech — and poetry grabbed him by the face mask and didn't let go.

'He has a wide range of interests, very interested in American politics, especially very thoughtful around issues of race,' Ross said. 'He's just very smart. He thinks and he listens and he takes it all in. He's not only one of the best students I've ever taught, but he's really one of the best people.'

Ross watched as Taylor nurtured the poetry group, which met once a month. Ross would gather the list of readers and hand it to Taylor about 10 minutes before 3 p.m. Taylor would put readers at ease. When he introduced them, he would say positive things and made sure he had something to say about everyone.

'He had an amazingly hospitable way of leading the group,' Ross said. 'He was generous, he was gracious, he was kind.'

These were the 'hard days,' as Ross described them, of the poetry/creative writing program at Gonzaga. The school wouldn't offer formal classes in creative writing until the year after Taylor graduated. Of course, demand for those have exploded, Ross said.

It was just the club during Taylor's years. He was in on the ground floor, really making it work.

'Now, it's (the poetry readings) kind of an institution at Gonzaga, which I'm thrilled about,' Ross said.

Taylor, a junior and in his second year as a starter for the Hawkeyes, still is wailing. Every teammate smiled when they were asked about his personality, which is described as overwhelmingly positive with unbound enthusiasm.

'He has something about him,' cornerback Desmond King said. 'The team gravitates around him and gets all of us hyped. He's a very positive guy. Miles is one of those guys who spiritually speaks to the team, leads prayers before dinners. He's a very spiritual guy.'

There's authenticity and there's also authority. If Taylor is going to jump you for casual striding, you know he's running full speed back to the huddle.

'He's a very intense guy and you have to love that about him,' defensive tackle Nathan Bazata said. 'He gets on you if you're walking around, even if the play is over and you're walking back to the ball just to get lined up. That's great. He runs our speech and is just really intense. It's serious Miles and it's awesome.'

And yet another take ...

'He's insane,' defensive end Parker Hesse said with a laugh. 'He's Miles. He loves the game of football, he gets fired up. It's great to have guys like him on the field and on the sideline. He gets everyone into it.'

If you don't think these guys can sense someone just screaming at them without anything behind it, guess again. The Hawkeyes have embraced Taylor because they know the guy in the middle of the huddle in pregame is the same guy in the weightroom, on the practice field, in the study sessions.

'Miles is that guy for us,' offensive tackle Ike Boettger said. 'That's how he is, 24/7. He's not putting on a show, that's just how he is.'

There's no time for poetry slams. This is late October. Football and college are all encompassing. The poetry reads now come with a helmet and cleats. The game is where the art is for Taylor.

'Sports are like expressing yourself,' Taylor said. 'You always express yourself on the field. You want to play with great emotions and control.'

The poetry notebook is closed, but Taylor still has a voice people appreciate. Ross has a theory on high school kids and how they find poetry.

'Kids come to poetry when they need it,' he said, 'when it can give voice to something they're generally not able to give voice to. Where was Miles Taylor going to talk about people holding their purses away from him on the Metro? He's not going to write about that in history. I think he poured some of that stuff into poetry. I think he needed it at that time and I'm thrilled it was there and it was there for him.

'I'm sure it helped him, I know it helped a lot of other kids to see him up there.'

The mark of Taylor's emcee role at Gonzaga poetry slams was generosity, Ross said. In a recommendation letter he wrote for Taylor, Ross articulated it as 'the authority of kindness.'

'He is kind to everyone,' said Ross, who does keep in contact with Taylor. 'That's really something. Most of us don't have that. He's really good to people. As a result, people are drawn to him. He can get things done that others can't.'