Ensworth QB, Wyoming football commit Taylor Hasselbeck talks family
Ensworth QB, Wyoming football commit Taylor Hasselbeck talks family legacy, how he deals with pressure of last name
- Taylor Hasselbeck is the senior starting quarterback for Ensworth and is committed to play at Wyoming.
- He is the son of Ensworth coach and former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck and comes from a family with a deep NFL legacy.
- He led Ensworth to an upset victory over two-time defending state champion McCallie with a game-winning touchdown run.
Editor’s note: Taylor Hasselbeck is a senior starting quarterback at Ensworth and has committed to play for Wyoming. He is one of six quarterbacks The Tennessean is tracking this season for our QB1 Series. Check out a previous installment of the series, on Antioch’s Andre Adams, here.
The words were loud. The message was clear. The voice delivering the message belonged to Ensworth coach Tim Hasselbeck.
“This isn’t McCallie week!” Hasselbeck said to nobody in particular and everyone at once Sept. 17 toward the end of practice. “This is Lipscomb week!
“NOBODY cares that we won last week!”
Someone who needed no such reminder was Hasselbeck’s son, Taylor, the Tigers’ 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior quarterback who is bound for Wyoming.
Taylor is the one who gave his right arm and his legs for his team during its 20-10 upset of McCallie, the two-time defending TSSAA Division II-AAA state champion, on Sept. 12. He is the one whose 36-yard touchdown run with less than two minutes to go turned out to be the go-ahead score against the team that knocked the Tigers out in a state semifinal last season, their lone loss of the year.
Taylor is the one with the level head and the responsibilities attached to his name.
“There’s an expectation that comes with my last name, because of the great legacy that my grandfather, my dad, my uncle have created,” he told The Tennessean, referring to his father, who spent parts of four seasons in the NFL as a quarterback and has been a football analyst for ESPN; his uncle, Matt Hasselbeck, who played 18 seasons in the NFL and was a three-time Pro Bowl selection; and his grandfather, Don Hasselbeck, who played tight end for nine years in the NFL and won a Super Bowl.
Not to mention his mother, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a former Boston College softball captain who was a contestant in the second season of the television series “Survivor” and was a co-host on “The View” for 10 years.
“He handles it probably as well as you can handle it,” Tim said of his son.
‘He seems unfazed about it’
Longtime Ensworth assistant coach Reed Trickett told Tim as much last year — opened his eyes to it, even.
“He said, ‘I hope you appreciate how Taylor has handled this,’ ” Tim said. “I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, I mean, you come here, there are high expectations and he’s the quarterback. He better play well.’ “
Then it occurred to Hasselbeck the father and Hasselbeck the coach.
“I gotta be honest,” he continued. “I didn’t really think about it because he seems unfazed about it. Taylor has a little bit of Eli Manning in him. You never knew if his dog died or he won the lottery. Eli was so steady. That’s how Taylor is. It’s just his personality.
“He’s not a peaks-and-valleys guy.”
No, he’s more of a speaks-and-rallies guy.
Exhibit A: The end of that Sept. 17 practice.
Before Tim began yelling, Taylor sensed a lull in his teammates and began leading them in the next drill.
He wasn’t told to do it. He just did it.
Just as he did last season, when he passed to the tune of 134-for-190 passing for 1,790 yards and 18 touchdowns against three interceptions after transferring from Montgomery Bell Academy.
“Obviously, I want to be the best I can be,” Taylor said. “I get to learn (from my family), which helps me a lot. It’s a blessing.
“I try to live up to who they want me to be. Really, like any kid does, you try to impress your parents.”
‘It’s an amazing feeling’
While the McCallie game was a peak, the Tigers’ loss two weeks earlier to Georgia-bound quarterback Jared Curtis and Nashville Christian could be considered a valley.
It was a game Ensworth could have won. Should have won. It was a game Ensworth lost 42-41 in overtime.
But could haves and should haves don’t exist in Taylor Hasselbeck’s orbit.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate the moments. Good, bad or indifferent.
Take that game-clinching run against McCallie, for instance.
“Running down the field, sideline going crazy, student section going crazy, it’s an amazing feeling,” Taylor said. “But that doesn’t happen without the guys around me.”
One thing is for certain though: This is Lipscomb week. And come Sept. 18, Taylor Hasselbeck surely will remember to forget about that win against McCallie and that loss against Nashville Christian.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Paulskrbina.
