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Ross Taylor - - Clemson University Athletics

Ross Taylor

Position: Assistant AD / Football Communications

Ross Taylor joined Clemson as Assistant Athletic Director for Football Communications in 2018. He serves as the primary media contact for Clemson Football and Head Coach Dabo Swinney, and is responsible for developing media relations strategies, coordinating and scheduling media appearances, program record-keeping and more.

Taylor and Clemson’s athletic communications staff have earned Football Writers Association of America Super 11 honors, given annually to the departments and programs that exemplify excellent media relations, in each of his first five seasons with the program. Clemson has earned a record-tying 10 Super 11 awards since the award’s inception in 2009, including a record eight consecutive selections from 2015-22.

In Taylor’s first season at Clemson in 2018, he managed media efforts for a squad that won the program’s third national title en route to becoming major college football’s first 15-0 team since 1897. He promoted five first-team All-Americans (including three consensus honorees and a unanimous selection) and multiple national award winners, including winners of the William V. Campbell Trophy, Ted Hendricks Award, Archie Griffin Award, Bobby Bowden Trophy, Burlsworth Trophy and multiple Coach of the Year honors. One year later, Taylor promoted a squad that once again appeared in the College Football Playoff National Championship, a group that featured four All-Americans (including two consensus honors and a unanimous selection) and the program’s first Butkus Award winner.

In 2020, Taylor guided Clemson’s football communications efforts in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping promote the program in the midst of its 10th consecutive 10-win season, sixth consecutive ACC Championship and sixth straight College Football Playoff berth. He helped promote student-athletes to postseason accolades that included four Tigers securing All-America honors (including one consensus selection) and Trevor Lawrence tying the highest Heisman Trophy voting finish in school history (second).

Through 2023, Taylor has promoted 21 different Clemson players to 24 All-America selections, a group featuring Barrett Carter (2022), Jackson Carman (2020), Tyler Davis (2022), Travis Etienne (2018, 2019, 2020), Clelin Ferrell (2018), Mario Goodrich (2021), K.J. Henry (2022), Tee Higgins (2019), Mitch Hyatt (2018), Tre Lamar (2019), Dexter Lawrence (2018), Trevor Lawrence (2020), Trayvon Mullen (2018), Myles Murphy (2021), Tanner Muse (2019), James Skalski (2021), Isaiah Simmons (2019), John Simpson (2019), Jeremiah Trotter Jr. (2022 & 2023), Nolan Turner (2020) and Christian Wilkins (2018). A total of 49 players have combined for 76 total All-ACC selections in his tenure as well. In addition to promoting Clemson’s on-field success, Taylor has helped highlight the program’s off-field impact, as members of the program were named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team in five of the first six seasons of his tenure, and running back Darien Rencher became the program’s first Disney Spirit Award winner as the sport’s most inspirational figure in 2020.

Upon his hiring, Taylor became only the third director of football communications at Clemson since 1955, following in the legacies of Clemson Ring of Honor enshrinee Bob Bradley and CoSIDA Hall of Famer Tim Bourret. Taylor joined Clemson after seven seasons with the team known currently as the Washington Commanders from 2011-18. The team promoted Taylor to Director of Communications in 2015 after four years in various PR capacities for the team across the 2011-14 seasons. In his seven NFL seasons, Taylor helped promote 10 players to a total of 20 Pro Bowl selections and two offensive coordinators en route to eventual NFL head coaching positions. In addition, he was part of a select group chosen by the NFL to provide assistance on the league’s behalf during NFC Championship weeks five times.

Taylor first joined Washington’s NFL franchise as an intern in Summer 2010 before joining the team on a full-time basis in July 2011. His background includes internships as a staff writer with The Dallas Morning News and at the world headquarters of Fleishman-Hillard International Communications in St. Louis.

Taylor graduated magna cum laude from the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in December 2010, earning a Bachelor’s of Journalism with an emphasis in convergence journalism in three-and-a-half years. In addition to completing assignments for multiple professional media organizations, Taylor served as the play-by-play voice of the Mizzou women’s volleyball team across the 2009-10 seasons. In his final semester, Taylor and a colleague launched KBIA Sports Extra, which was later integrated into the curriculum by convergence journalism faculty as the genesis of a new Multimedia Sports Reporting course.

Taylor is a native of Coppell, Texas.

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