Mason Taylor on Mackey Award Watchlist

After a strong freshman season, Mason Taylor is rightfully getting all kinds of praise and expectations tossed his way.

Taylor was voted to the SEC’s preseason second-team at SEC Media Days, and now he’s on the Mackey Award watch list.

The Mackey Award is given annually to the nation’s best tight end. An LSU tight end has never won the award, but given Brian Kelly’s history at developing tight ends it certainly feels much more possible nowadays. In fact Kelly coached Tyler Eifert to the Mackey Award in 2012 when he was at Notre Dame.

Taylor made himself an LSU legend with his fourth quarter touchdown against Alabama, and then catching the game-winning two-point conversion against the Tide in overtime.

The son of NFL Hall of Famer Jason Taylor, and nephew of newly inducted NFL Hall of Famer Zach Thomas, Mason’s 38 catches and 414 yards were good for second and third respectively by an LSU tight end in a single-season. Even if Taylor doesn’t win a Mackey Award by the time his LSU career is over, there’s a very real chance he could leave Baton Rouge as the most productive tight end in school history if he keeps this pace up.