Isaiah Taylor, a former Arizona safety and son of Jason Taylor, transfers to UM

Former Arizona safety Isaiah Taylor, son of NFL Hall of Famer and UM assistant coach Jason Taylor, is joining the Hurricanes via the transfer portal.

Taylor appeared in 24 games for the Wildcats over the past three seasons and had 56 tackles and two passes defended.

He had one career interception - in Arizona’s 38-35 win against Arizona State in 2022.

He appeared in four games as a freshman in 2021 and 20 games over the past two seasons, playing mostly on special teams in 2023.

A three-star prospect out of Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, Taylor competed for a starting spot with the Wildcats last August but ended up playing only 146 defensive snaps this past season.

Instead, he played mostly on special teams in 2023, finishing with 15 tackles. Eight of those tackles were in the Week 2 loss at Mississippi State when he started the first half in place of a suspended Gunner Maldonado.

This past season, Taylor allowed five catches on seven targets for 65 yards and a touchdown.

Taylor played 290 defensive snaps in 2022 and had a decent 70.9 coverage grade.

Rivals rated him the 428th best player in the transfer portal.

The Canes needed safety help after losing Kamren Kinchens and James Williams to the NFL. Earlier this offseason, the Canes added Vanderbilt backup safety Savion Riley through the transfer portal.

Taylor and Riley join returning safeties Markieth Williams, Jaden Harris, Kaleb Spencer and Brian Balom. And another former Vanderbilt player, Jadais Richard, also could end up at safety after playing cornerback for UM this past season.