LOOK: 2022 Ole Miss football signee Taylor Groves wins state title in basketball
East Robertson (Tenn.) safety and 2022 Ole Miss football signee Taylor Groves will report to Oxford this summer after he wraps up his senior year. But before he leaves Cross Plains, Tenn., the 6-foot-2, 175 pound prospect had unfinished business on the hardwood.
And he received approval from head coach Lane Kiffin to handle it.
Groves told Tennessean’s Joseph Spears that he and the head man discussed him playing basketball before the season and that Kiffin was a major supporter of him finishing out his prep career in basketball.
“This is something he wanted me to do,” Groves said. “He wanted me to stay here and finish my unfinished business that I needed to get done. I’m sure he’s happy right now.”
Groves and his East Robertson teammates climbed to the Class 1A mountaintop on Saturday, defeating Peabody (Tenn.), 67-42, at Middle Tennessee State’s Murphy Center. East Robertson finished the season with a 27-6 record and Groves was named Tournament MVP. He finished with a game-high 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting and was also named to the All-Tournament team.
Groves finished with 27 points in the 58-56 semifinal win over Hampton (Tenn.) on Friday, guiding East Robertson to its first state title game appearance in 30 years. Per Blaine Keller of Main Street Preps, Groves finished his prep sports career with 4,118 all-purpose yards, 268 tackles, 40 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in football and he averaged 22.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game as a senior on the basketball court.
The Ole Miss signee will now turn his attention to preparing for his arrival in Oxford as he will head towards Mississippi in a few months. The 269th overall prospect in the 2022 class and 24th-ranked safety in the On3 Consensus chose the Rebels over notable offers from Texas A&M, Penn State, Michigan and Notre Dame.
