Why Tennessee's Alontae Taylor kissed picture of his grandmother when he was drafted by New Orleans Saints

Alontae Taylor knew his name was about be called and his NFL dream would come true, so he pulled a stand-up picture frame tightly to his face.

“With the 49th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the New Orleans select Alontae Taylor,” he heard on the TV broadcast Friday night.

And then Taylor, the Tennessee cornerback, kissed the picture of his grandmother, just as he had planned.

“My grandma’s not here, (she) passed away,” Taylor said. “So I have her picture sitting in front of me, and I gave her a kiss. (She was) the first person I made sure I gave a kiss to before hugging my mom.”

Ginger Irene Burnett Reese died in 2009, when Taylor was 11 years old. But he’s taken her along for every step of his football career — from Coffee County High to Tennessee and now the Saints.

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When Taylor signed with Tennessee in 2017, he dedicated the day to his grandmother. She lived in Winchester, Tennessee, just down the road from former Vols coach Phillip Fulmer’s mother.

Throughout his Tennessee career, Taylor called his grandmother his biggest motivator.

And at the NFL Scouting Combine and Tennessee pro day, he wore a T-shirt and necklace with her photo on them.

On a Tennessee Vols podcast in 2020, Taylor explained the impact his grandmother had on him.

“She always told me that I was going to be great one day, but it wasn’t going happen if all I did was complain about the circumstances I was in,” Taylor said. “And I want to be great one day. But I can’t be great by complaining about everything.”

Taylor developed into a vocal leader for the Vols. And his smile was a fixture while the team went through the past two tumultuous years of a losing season, coach Jeremy Pruitt’s firing, an NCAA investigation, a mass exodus of transfers, coach Josh Heupel’s hiring and finally a winning season.

Taylor said his grandmother’s influence kept his spirits high.

“She would go through hard times just living the life of not having a lot of money or things. But whatever she had, she made it work,” Taylor said. “When I’m out there playing and something goes bad for me and I might have bad body language, I think about my granny and I fix it up because I know she could’ve had bad body language when she was going through trials and tribulations.”

Taylor’s body language was undeniable when the Saints called his name as a second-round draft pick. After kissing the photo, he threw his arms into the air, hugged his parents and celebrated his lifelong dream coming true.

The image of his grandmother sat on the table facing skyward.

Reach Adam Sparks at adam.sparks@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Tennessee's Alontae Taylor kissed picture of his grandmother when he was drafted by New Orleans Saints