FORT WORTH, Texas – Three young men in small-sized Air Force No. 7 jerseys fidgeted in the back of the room as their big brother, who has worn the official No. 7 to much acclaim, spoke to media on Friday.

Trey Taylor’s final college game will be played Saturday when the Falcons face No. 24 James Madison in the Armed Forces Bowl at 1:30 p.m. on ABC from TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium. This football chapter will close for the Jim Thorpe Award winner and All-American safety just a short drive to the south from his Frisco, Texas home.

“It’s almost like a movie or a script,” said Tyree Taylor, Trey’s father and a former standout linebacker at nearby Southern Methodist University. “It’s a perfectly written script.”

Springs Soundoff, Ep. 72: Armed Forces Bowl preview

This will be Taylor’s fifth collegiate game, and third consecutive bowl game, in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. He has spoken many times about the advantages of playing close to home, but the scene in the Omni Fort Worth Hotel illustrated an added bonus in ways words can’t describe.

Taylor’s brothers – Trenton (10), Timothy (8) and Joseph (6 on Friday) – basked in the opportunity to simply be near him. They jumped at the chance to pose for photos with him and the way they looked at him carried a mix of admiration and hero worship.

There’s no place like home when your three biggest fans can still be found there.

“The biggest thing is I want to show them that anybody in our position can do it,” Taylor said. “It’s special to be able to set an example and be a role model like that.”

Decorated academy graduate

The awards haul for Taylor this season has been as impressive as any for an Air Force player since Chad Hennings in 1987.

Hennings, the Outland Trophy winner and a consensus All-American for the Falcons before starring with the Dallas Cowboys (the Metroplex ties are seemingly endless), showed up to inform Taylor he had won the Thorpe Award, which honors the nation’s best defensive back while also considering a character element.

There was also first-team All-American recognition for Taylor from the American Football Coaches Association and a third-team nod from the Associated Press. First-team All-Mountain West. Defender of the Nation. An invitation to the East-West Shrine Game that will include practices and a potential game on the same Texas fields where he played as a youth.

“It’s been wild to receive a lot of these awards. But at the same time I busted my butt to get some of this recognition,” Taylor said.

Ask him which honor means the most from the last few weeks and he’ll point to the degree he received in a ceremony held on Dec. 15.

“There was no bigger award than graduating from the Air Force Academy, at all,” Taylor said. “Just because of what I know I had to go through.”

Like most Air Force graduates, Taylor faced difficulties early in his time at the academy that had him doubting if he’d make it. He had been the big fish at Lone Star High School, and he became a little fish constantly swimming upstream.

The transfer portal wasn’t much of an issue, as his breakout season came in 2021 when he was, by football standards, a sophomore. But by that point, he had taken a semester turnback and, in the eyes of the academy, he was a junior and therefore locked into his commitment.

“Honestly, (the portal) never would have been a temptation for me,” Taylor said. “I knew the love I had for the coaches and Colorado Springs. And I knew the love the coaches and Colorado Springs had for me. I wouldn’t leave that for anything.”

Another Lone Star Showdown

Air Force was linked to several bowls following the season. The New Mexico Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and several others seemed to be in play.

Preferring to play in the Dallas area, Taylor anonymously slipped a note under coach Troy Calhoun’s door that simply said, “First Responder Bowl or Armed Forces Bowl.”

Sure enough, here they are.

It’s definitely amazing,” Taylor said. “I’m a big traveler, so I love seeing new places. But being able to get back to where it all started is awesome.”

No wonder, considering the way Taylor and his Air Force teams have played in his home state.

The Falcons defeated Louisville in the 2021 First Responder Bowl at SMU. They beat Baylor in the Armed Forces Bowl last year. They also split a pair of close games with Army in 2021 and 2022 at the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field.

Add in a victory over Sam Houston State in September at the Houston Texans’ NRG Stadium and the Falcons are 4-1 in Texas during the past three years. And in those games Taylor averaged 6.6 tackles, a full tackle more than his average in his other 30 career starts. He also has a sack and a pair of pass breakups in the Texas tilts.

His contributions will be needed on Saturday, as James Madison enters with the nation’s No. 18 scoring offense. Quarterback Jordan McCloud has thrown for 283.3 yards per game with 32 touchdowns, the fifth-most nationally.

“It’s almost even better, in certain ways,” Taylor said of the bowl draw after the Falcons had played teams from Power Five conferences in their past five bowl games. “JMU, they’ve put together something special.”

Cherished brother, son

When asked who among them was the best football player, each of Trey Taylor’s brothers raised their hand.

When Trey asks them if they want to be as good as him one day, they say no, they want to be better.

That’s what Taylor is leaving for his siblings, a combination of confidence and hope along with a road map of how to get there.

“When you have a trailblazer like Trey setting that standard, setting that bar so high, it makes it, quite honestly, a little bit easier for me,” said Tyree Taylor, who coaches the football teams for his three younger sons – including games scheduled for Saturday morning before the Armed Forces Bowl and, earlier this season, at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday in Frisco following a Friday night game for Air Force at San Jose State. “I can point directly to their brother.”

He can also point to the goals Trey used to write down as he was developing as a young player.

“I think he also leaves behind clues to help them get there as well,” Tyree said.

Calhoun noted Trey’s family background when addressing his accomplishments at a press conference Friday.

“Just the amount of work he puts in, how committed he is, the heart and soul and spirit that he has, and a real credit to his family, too,” Calhoun said. “You have a father that’s that dedicated to all of his kids, he does it at the home and in the community. And the same thing with his mom, (Courtney Caldwell). It’s absolutely wonderful.”

One of the most celebrated careers in Air Force history will come to a close Saturday.

Center Thor Paglialong, also a first-team All-Mountain West honoree, said he was proud of Taylor and the recognition he’s received in recent weeks. Calhoun said he was proud to have coached him. His little brothers, very clearly, are proud of him.

And then there’s a father who has watched his son rise to national prominence in a sport he also played at a high level and has been able watch a handful of those games close to home without the added burden of airfare.

“I think even the word ‘proud’ wouldn’t really do it its due justice,” Tyree Taylor said. “There’s no words to describe it.

“God has truly blessed Trey. God has truly blessed the family. And as a father, man, God has truly blessed me to have a son like Trey.”