Former Coastal Carolina coach and teammates honor Lorenzo Taliaferro as a selfless star
De’Angelo Henderson is grieving, and would like to do it privately.
But the former Coastal Carolina star running back feels compelled to talk about his buddy, another CCU backfield legend, Lorenzo Taliaferro.
Taliaferro died on Wednesday at the age of 28, but the impact he had on his former Chanticleer teammates and coaches lives on.
“I feel myself and everybody who was close to Lorenzo, it’s our duty to uphold his legacy and share his story, and share the kind of person he was, the kind of man he was,” Henderson said Thursday. “Because he was a great football player – he set all kinds of records, got drafted, all that good stuff. But he was a phenomenal, phenomenal human being. His legacy has to be shared, and I’m talking about off the field. The person he was, the kind of man he was, the kind of man he wanted to be for his son is something people should know.
“Lorenzo was one of the most selfless people who walked this earth. He literally would have given you his last.”
Taliaferro’s college and pro career
Taliaferro played two seasons at Coastal in 2012-13 for coach Joe Moglia, who is now CCU’s chairman of athletics and executive director of football. Moglia expected his players to live by his ideal of BAM (Be A Man), which entails standing on their own two feet, taking responsibility for their actions, treating others with dignity and respect, and accepting the consequences of their actions.
“He was humble, he cared about others, he was beloved and he epitomized what BAM meant for us,” Moglia said. “Lorenzo was one of our greatest players.”
He entered Coastal after attending a junior college and holds single-season school records with 276 carries, 1,729 rushing yards and 27 rushing touchdowns in 2013. He played in the Senior Bowl and was the 2013 Big South Conference Football Offensive Player of the Year and Male Athlete of the Year encompassing all sports.
He was selected in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by Baltimore and played three seasons with the Ravens before being released on Sept. 1, 2017. His best season in Baltimore was 2014, when he played in 13 games, rushed for 292 yards and four touchdowns and caught eight passes for 114 yards.
Taliaferro played briefly in 2018 for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.
Taliaferro’s cause of death had not been announced as of Friday, but sports anchor Bruce Cunningham of Fox45 in Baltimore reports that a family member told him Taliaferro had a heart attack.
Henderson talked to Taliaferro, who teammates and friends called Zo, on the phone less than 24 hours before he died. “He reached out to me,” Henderson said. “If he realized it had been awhile since he communicated with someone, he always reached out. That’s the kind of person he was. . . . I should feel honored God gave us an opportunity to speak one more time.”
Like Henderson, Bruce Mapp played with Taliaferro in both 2012 and 2013. After they left school, Taliaferro visited Mapp in Philadelphia, and Mapp visited Taliaferro in Baltimore during his days with the Ravens.
“Zo was just a real good, humble, genuine dude, real hard-working, just real positive and fun to be around,” said Mapp, who is in the top three in CCU history in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. “He was somebody you could talk to, laugh with, just a brother figure. He’d show me a good time, it was like a little brother role he took me in on. He introduced me to different celebrities like John Wall and other players when I was with him.
“He was a good dude who would do anything for anybody, especially if you played on his team.”
Mapp planned to congratulate Taliaferro on his 29th birthday Wednesday. “I’m real shocked. He’s only 28,” Mapp said. “It’s definitely real sad because we’re all close in age and all close together, to lose somebody like that who is so young.”
Considerate of others
Jim and Donna Curcio, the parents of a Coastal Carolina alum, shared a story that exemplified Taliaferro’s humbleness and kindness to others – even strangers – that occurred in 2014.
Taliaferro was being honored at a Coastal football game during the 2014 season – his rookie year in the NFL – on a week when the Ravens played on a Thursday night, so he was free to travel to the Saturday afternoon game.
Lightning in Charlotte canceled his connecting flight to Myrtle Beach, and among those also stranded at Charlotte Douglas International Airport were the Curcios, who were going to CCU on Family Weekend to visit their daughter, then a freshman.
After hours of discussions with the airline, Taliaferro decided to drive to Myrtle Beach but he wasn’t old enough to rent a car, so Jim Curcios paid with his credit card, Taliaferro reimbursed him with cash, and they added a woman and her two children who were headed to a wedding in Myrtle Beach in a Jeep SUV. Taliaferro drove and his girlfriend navigated on her cellphone’s GPS.
“He was trying to do everything he could because he wanted to make that game to honor his commitment to Coastal,” Donna Curcio said.
Taliaferro dropped everyone off at their respective hotels upon arrival on the Grand Strand around 4 a.m., and the Curcios told CCU President David DeCenzo and some trustee members about Taliaferro’s deed at the traditional Family Weekend Sunday breakfast.
“I said I simply must tell President DeCenzo this story about Lorenzo because I was just so impressed with this young man,” and emotional Donna Curcio said. “We’re not his family, we’re not his friend, but we’re very saddened by this news. Every time we watch the Baltimore Ravens on TV we think about Lorenzo. We are so deeply upset and we offer our deepest condolences to his family.”
“That’s just him being him, a genuine guy, a nice person, not caring about who he was just wanting to help others,” Henderson said. “It sucks that this world lost somebody like that because he is somebody that this world needs. He saw everybody for who they were. He didn’t see skin color, he didn’t see financial background, he didn’t see political background, he saw people, and he was friends with everybody.”
Henderson was essentially Taliaferro’s understudy, redshirting as a true freshman in 2012 and serving as his primary backup in 2013. While Taliaferro owns the significant CCU single-season running back records, Henderson set all the career marks before being drafted by Denver in the sixth round of the 2017 draft, including an NCAA record for scoring a touchdown in 35 straight games.
Henderson and Taliaferro had adjacent lockers, which helped them become closer. Taliaferro attended Henderson’s graduation at CCU and frequently asked about Henderson’s grandmother, while Henderson’s grandmother would ask about him. The two had their young sons a couple months apart and Henderson said they would discuss how to be the best fathers and best examples for their children.
The two worked together as campus janitors at Coastal. “You’re talking about an All-American running back and NFL running back who is a janitor cleaning toilets for people to use to watch him run the ball on Saturdays,” Henderson said. “We’re talking about a guy who would come pick me up in the morning for workouts because I didn’t have a car. He would go out of his way to pick me up to make sure I had a ride in the morning.
Condolences and tributes
“He was humble, smart, worked hard, never really complained, always just wanted to be there for everybody and do what’s right. It’s sad and unfortunate we lost somebody like that.”
Taliaferro is the fourth former CCU running back to die in recent years. Anthony Frye, Aaron Jones and D.J. McNeill have also died. “It’s a lot of back to back things that suck. It’s hard, especially when it hits home like that,” Henderson said.
Several former CCU and Ravens teammates and coaches have offered condolences and testimonials to Taliaferro’s character on social media, including the Ravens organization and former Baltimore backfield mate Justin Forsett, who stated on Twitter:
“Zo had 1 of the biggest hearts I’ve ever been around. He was kind, humble, curious about life, & joy to be around. I’ll be there for Major bro & let him know his dad was a good man who worked his butt off! Rest Easy Zobot! Gone 2 soon.”
Raiders tight end Darren Waller gave a tribute to his former 2015-16 Ravens teammate after scoring a touchdown Thursday night against the Los Angeles Chargers. He held up ‘3-4’ with his fingers to signify Taliaferro’s No. 34 jersey number, then put his hands together in a prayer position, bowed and pointed to the sky.
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 3:54 PM.
