A native of Clinton, Maryland, Taylor attended Gwynn Park High School, where he was a two-way lineman for head coach Dan Hayes.

After sitting out the first half of his true freshman year at Penn State, Taylor made his collegiate debut against Michigan and went on to play the season's final seven games for the Nittany Lions.

His finale game for Penn State came at the Alamo Bowl against Texas A&M with five-tackle performance that included one tackle for loss.

In the summer of 2008, Taylor and Chris Baker were involved in a minor pool party fracas, which resulted in both being ejected from the team.

In May 2010, Taylor spent two weeks in Nairobi on a sports mission trip to Kenya with other Baylor athletes.

He totaled 62 tackles (35 solo)—the most by a Baylor interior lineman since Ethan Kelley in 2002—, seven for loss including two sacks, three QB hurries, two pass breakups and one forced fumble.

Taylor was a major standout in his rookie season, outperforming higher picks of the same position such as Nick Fairley and Corey Liuget.Taylor was also selected to the Pro Football Weekly All-Rookie team of 2011, with teammate Jabaal Sheard.

[11][12] On July 31, 2016, Taylor was placed on Injured reserve due to a knee injury suffered in training camp.