Five years before 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan became smitten with a too-tiny, too-slow wide receiver, Tony Franklin was the first to fall in love with Trent Taylor.
In 2012, Franklin was Louisiana Tech’s offensive coordinator and Taylor was a 160-pound high school senior who couldn’t get some Division II schools to notice him.
But Franklin couldn’t take his eyes off him when Taylor attended Louisiana Tech’s summer camp. And he wasn’t alone.
Taylor was so impressive that Bulldogs wide receivers Quinton Patton and Myles White, both future NFL players, made mid-camp pleas to Franklin: Give that mighty mite a scholarship.