Rapp: Sudden Impact
November 02, 2017 | Football
By Rich Myhre
In most ways, Taylor Rapp is a typical American young man. Not only does he love playing the very American sport of football, but his Instagram page shows him enjoying summer days at the beach, fishing, spending time with friends, and engaging in other very American pastimes.
But on closer look – and that look should be directed at his shirtless torso – Rapp is equally passionate about another part of his lineage.
Rapp, a sophomore safety on the University of Washington football team, was born to a Canadian father, Chris, and a Chinese mother, Chiyan. His parents met in China when his father was working in that country, and they later moved to Toronto and then to Atlanta where Taylor was born. The family ended up moving again, this time to Bellingham, where Taylor grew up and where he attended Sehome High School, graduating in the class of 2016.
Rapp, who has dual citizenship (United States and Canada), has lived his entire life in this country, so he is unquestionably American. But his mother's ancestry is also very important to him, and as evidence he has adorned his upper body with black tattoos of Chinese symbols. On the lower left side of his torso, arranged in a vertical row, are symbols representing the Five Virtues (also known as the Five Constants) by Chinese teacher and philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC) – kindness, justice, morality, wisdom and loyalty.
"These five virtues, that's kind of the foundation of how I go through life, of how I live," Rapp explained. "I'm a man of integrity, and all these traits are (about) doing the right thing."
On his upper left arm, he has other tattoos of an ox (the Chinese zodiac for the year he was born) and another symbol that represents a Chinese proverb "that's pretty complicated, but in short it means (you should) have an impact in the world," he said.
Rapp certainly had an impact in the football world a year ago, emerging as a standout in Washington's defensive secondary as a true freshman. Rapp, who enrolled at Washington in January and participated in spring practices, played well enough to force his way into the starting lineup at midseason, and then so well down the stretch that he was named the Pacific-12 Conference Freshman of the Year after the season.
"I put him at numerous positions, and he was able to pick up the defense faster than anybody," said UW defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake. "That's the first thing about Taylor. The other thing is, he's by far the best tackler we have on our team. Even on our team last year, when we had a pretty good tackler in Budda Baker … Taylor is a very sure tackler and does a great job of wrapping up. Also, a telltale sign of a really good safety is someone that takes really good angles to the football, and he does that.
"Since I've been here, (Rapp) is probably the smartest defensive back that has come in here and learned our package," Lake added.
Rapp's early progression a year ago was made difficult by the broken right hand he suffered early in spring practices. But rather than staying on the sidelines, Rapp had the trainers encase his hand in a protective covering and then kept practicing, learning and striving to improve.
"Last year, every time I went out there it was a whirlwind," he admitted. "It was crazy and hectic."
In a secondary that included soon-to-be NFL players Baker, Kevin King and Sidney Jones, "I had no idea I was going to end up starting (as a freshman)," Rapp went on. "I thought maybe I could contribute on special teams. … But I can't say enough about Coach Lake. He gave me many chances to prove that I could do it. He's an amazing coach and he got me to where I could play."
By the end of the season, Rapp hardly looked like a raw freshman. He had two interceptions against USC, albeit in a UW loss, and then had two more interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown, in Washington's 41-10 rout of Colorado in the Pac-12 Championship game.
The opportunity to be a key performer was one big surprise for Rapp last season. Another was his emergence as a role model. As he began to get more playing time and then as his contributions and recognition grew, he began receiving messages from Asian-Americans, many of them youngsters, saying how much they admired him and, in the case of the kids, how much they wanted to be like him.
"To have little kids and their parents messaging me, it means a lot to me," Rapp said. "Especially young Asian-Americans who say, 'Oh, I look up to you, I want to be just like you, I want to follow your path, I want to come to UW.' I realize how special that is and how unique that is."
Why special and unique?
"Because when I was growing up," Rapp explained, "I didn't see a lot of Asian-Americans playing football. It was tough for me to idolize someone who had the same roots and the same ethnicity as me. … So to be an Asian-American and play football, I just want to use this platform to really inspire young Asian-Americans to really believe in themselves and to try to follow their dreams."
The messaging, which began a year ago, is continuing this season. "And if I have a good game," Rapp said, "then I get crazy (number of) messages."
But as much as his Asian ethnicity might mean to others, it means a lot to Rapp as well. He knows the story of his mother's family, and how they endured hardship through the Communist takeover that followed World War II and then the country's Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s and early 70s. For millions of Chinese, those were years of great persecution and distress.
"Hearing her stories of how she grew up, and knowing where she came from, and how hard she and her family worked to get where they are today, it just means a lot to me," Rapp said.
Though his Chinese grandparents now live in Seattle, Rapp has extended family still living in China. Years ago, his parents took Taylor and his older brother Austin to that country for a few weeks in the summer.
"I was pretty young so I don't remember very much," Rapp said. "But my mom just wanted to show my brother and me where she grew up (so we could understand) her background. And I definitely want to go back someday so I can understand it more."
But in the meantime there is college and there is football, and together they are Rapp's two current priorities. And although his is still relatively young as a college player, the experience he gained last season has made him one of the primary veterans in this year's UW secondary.
With that comes a responsibility Rapp has embraced. "Last year," he said, "we had big names like Budda and Kev and Sid. I was the young guy. But this year we've lost those guys (to the NFL), so there's more of an emphasis for me on trying to step up as a leader."
Overall, he added, "I've been just trying to refine everything on the field. I wanted to get better at man coverage and my cover skills as a safety. And then just stepping up to the next level by (being even better at) learning the defense, studying film of the opponents and studying their tendencies, and stepping up my whole game knowledge-wise."
Lake, for one, has been pleased with the results.
"Taylor has a lot of extremely great traits that you love in a safety," he said. "He's very smart and he's an excellent communicator … and he really makes our defense run."
