With Georgia on his mind, Geneva’s Talyn Taylor turns down Notre Dame and Ohio State. ‘I want to win the Heisman.’

Venus Taylor always wanted to support her son’s athletic dreams and aspirations.

As Talyn headed into his freshman year at Geneva, Venus had a simple question for him.

“Where do you want to go?” said Venus, who’s the head softball coach at North Central College. “He said, ‘I want to go to Georgia.’ All right, we have to get there somehow.”

The senior receiver continued to refine his skills, eventually blossoming into a four-star recruit. All of that work paid off in June when Taylor made his verbal commitment to Georgia.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound speedster turned himself into a top-100 national recruit and one of the top 10 receivers in the 2025 class. Notre Dame and Ohio State were in the running until the end before Taylor’s longtime favorite, the Bulldogs, prevailed.

“I want to win national championships,” Taylor said. “I want to win the Heisman. I want to have high goals for myself. To be the best you have to play with the best.”

The commitment was all Venus Taylor had envisioned and more.

“It’s so exciting — just pure joy,” she said. “There’s nothing you want more than to see your kid’s dreams come true. He’s had dreams and goals. It was purely his talent that got him recognized.”

Geneva coach Boone Thorgesen won’t soon forget the process, either. Coaches that hadn’t even heard of Geneva were suddenly walking the halls to meet with Taylor, one of the biggest recruits the Vikings have ever had.

“It was fun to see those guys come in,” Thorgesen said. “It was very cool, a very surreal kind of process. I’ll coach for as long as I will, and it will probably never happen again.

“To see him go through it and come out as happy as he is and find a place he loves is awesome.”

Many top-flight recruits such as Taylor wind up at a prep school in the fall, graduate early and head to their chosen college for spring ball. Taylor is approaching it differently, however.

He wants to leave his mark at Geneva before he heads south. He has worked this summer with new quarterbacks Tony Chahino and Brock Phillip to develop chemistry for this season.

“The plan right now is to stay at Geneva,” Taylor said. “I want to be all-state. I want to help the team win a state championship.”

That is music to Thorgesen’s ears.

“You don’t see that as much nowadays,” Thorgesen said. “We count our blessings pretty regularly. It’s been a lot of fun these last four years. To see him see it through makes it even more special.

“He always has a place to call home. He will leave here as one of the best players, if not the best ever, to go to Geneva.”

Taylor had to put in a tremendous amount of work to get to where he is now, but it’s just the beginning.

But for Taylor to realize goals such as competing to win a Heisman Trophy and reaching the NFL, the work has just begun.

“It’s just more work until I get to college,” Taylor said. “The grind never stops. People want to pass you every day. You can’t let that happen, and you have to keep doing you. I’m just working on the dream.”

His mom has always urged Talyn to dream big. She knows this is just the beginning, and his biggest cheerleader is happy his hard work led him to his chosen destination.

“You go shoot your shot,” Venus said. “You go to the place you dream of. Talyn was always going to be the guy that was going to pick the school he wanted to go to.

“He knows he has to work and that level won’t be easy, but he’s been dealing with pressure and continuing to take those steps. And that’s what you have to do.”

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.