A four-star recruit at the time, linebacker Harrison Taggart sat in the “nosebleed seats” at LaVell Edwards Stadium a few years ago with Corner Canyon High teammates and future BYU Cougars Micah Wilson and Cody Hagen and let his mind wander a little bit.
Why weren’t BYU coaches interested in him, he wondered, even as schools such as Oregon, UCLA, Utah, Virginia, Northwestern and Vanderbilt had made scholarship offers?
“Yeah, isn’t that awesome? I am really, really close to my sister. It will end up just being us in Utah. She is probably my best friend. I am really close with her.” — New BYU linebacker Harrison Taggart on his sister Madelynne, who will run track at BYU
“I don’t know if (BYU) knew I was even there,” he said. “I didn’t talk to a single BYU coach coming out of Corner Canyon. I really didn’t get it. Obviously I would have been interested in BYU.”
Taggart eventually signed with Oregon in December 2021 as a 6-foot-1, 216-pound speedster (for his size) and ranked as the 36th best linebacker in the country and No. 6 player in Utah by 247Sports.com. He is the all-time leading tackler in Corner Canyon history.
“Different coaching staff, different philosophy, I guess,” Taggart said of BYU’s lack of interest at the time. “I guess I wasn’t the fit they were looking for, and it is what it is.”
Well, times have changed, and so has BYU’s defensive coaching staff, with the exception or the lone holdover from the Ilaisa Tuiaki era, cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford.
After appearing in only three games with the Ducks in 2022 and playing only nine snaps on defense and one on special teams, Taggart decided to hit the transfer portal on April 26. He announced on June 3 that he has committed to BYU, citing his fondness for new BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill and new BYU linebackers coach Justin Ena as the main reasons why.
“There was a lot that went into it,” said Taggart, who is now close to 245 pounds and wants to get down to 225 this summer. “The culture that BYU has is unlike anything I have ever seen. I have been on tons of college visits. I was on a different college team (Oregon). I kinda know what that whole entire true American college life experience is like, and I am really excited about being at BYU.”
Taggart said there was also a lot that went into his reasons for wanting to leave Oregon, but a lot of it had to do with playing time and where he was in the Ducks’ plans. He had committed to a staff headed by coach Mario Cristobal, graduated high school early, and joined Oregon in the spring of 2022.
However, Cristobal took the Miami job a couple weeks before Taggart signed with Oregon, and the leading tackler in Corner Canyon football history had to get acquainted with a staff that didn’t recruit him. Oregon brought in a couple of experienced transfer linebackers last year, and is doing the same this year, bringing in Iowa’s Jestin Jacobs and Arizona State’s Connor Soelle.
“The weather kinda kicked my butt, and then I wanted to play (more),” Taggart said of his reasons for leaving Eugene. “I was really ready to play, and not (sure) about my future there.”
Taggart said Oregon uses graduate assistants to coach its inside linebackers, which wasn’t optimal for him and his situation.
“During my year and a half there, I had three different linebackers coaches, which made it hard because all the coaches want different things,” he said. “And I really wanted some stability, and coach Ena was that stability. He played for BYU. He bleeds blue. He is the biggest BYU fan you will ever meet. Even though he has been all over, he loves BYU.”
Taggart said that although he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was “saddened” when a few Oregon fans uttered “despicable chants” directed at BYU fans and their religion when the Cougars visited Autzen Stadium last September, that incident had nothing to do with his departure.
“I have talked about that with all my friends (at BYU) and they were like, ‘yeah, we kinda get that everywhere we go,’” Taggart said. “I thought that was wrong and I was kinda amazed that people were chanting that. But it is what it is.”
Even when he entered the portal, Taggart wasn’t sure if BYU was interested. The Cougars had landed Utah State linebacker AJ Vongphachanh out of the portal on April 18. But Ena and Hill quickly reached out, along with several other coaches from programs throughout the country.
Because his family is moving to Tennessee this summer, Taggart strongly considered the Vols, who landed former BYU players Keenan Pili and Gabe Jeudy-Lally last winter. Taggart’s father works for HCA Healthcare, which is headquartered in Nashville.
However, his sister, Corner Canyon track and field star Madelynne Taggart, also committed to BYU as one of the top hurdlers in the state.
The siblings are a year apart.
“Yeah, isn’t that awesome? I am really, really close to my sister,” Harrison Taggart said. “It will end up just being us in Utah. She is probably my best friend. I am really close with her.”
Because he played in only three games for Oregon, Taggart can use 2022 as his redshirt year and will have four years to play four seasons at BYU.
“I wouldn’t change anything,” he said. “I am so excited to be a Coug. And with BYU going to the Big 12, I think we can be contenders and really compete well in the Big 12.”
When he arrives in Provo, hopefully next week after some paperwork is finished up, Taggart is eager to be reunited with some of his friends from his high school playing days, Cougars such as tight end Anthony Olsen, quarterback Cole Hagen, receiver Parker Kingston and linebacker Isaiah Glasker.
What can BYU fans expect from the former Duck?
“My game is really physical. It is fast. I would say my speed is my biggest attribute,” he said. “I love physicality, running through somebody’s face. That’s probably my favorite part of the game.”