Who is Sean Taylor’s daughter? Meet Jackie, the North Carolina volleyball phenom who is honoring her father in a special way

Seventeen years after his tragic death, Sean Taylor’s name is still present in the sports world.

Numerous personalities and organizations paid their respects to the former Washington safety after he was killed in an attempted robbery, and his former franchise and alma mater, Miami, inflated his stats for posterity.

On Thursday, he received what may be the highest honor his legacy can be honored with. His daughter Jackie will wear his famous No. 21 while playing volleyball at North Carolina, the program announced on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.

Like father, like daughter 🤝

Freshman Jackie Taylor will wear number 21 as a Tar Heel to honor her father Sean Taylor 💙 2️⃣1️⃣ 💙

📸: Washington Post#GoHeels pic.twitter.com/HTQBwozTvb

— Carolina Volleyball (@UNCVolleyball) 27 June 2024

A highly touted talent, Jackie Taylor was praised for her penchant for spikes at Florida’s Gulliver Prep, the same school where her father was a star as a teenager, and now she has the chance to introduce the Taylor family name to a new generation of sports fans.

Here’s what you need to know.

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Who is Sean Taylor’s daughter?

Taylor’s daughter Jackie was born in May 2006, a few months before Sean Taylor’s third season in the league.

During her time at Gulliver Prep, she rose as a volleyball talent and was ranked as the No. 3 player in the state of Florida by Max Preps. A 6’1″ middle blocker, Taylor blankets the court in a barrage of spikes. In her final two games at Gulliver, she recorded 54 kills and 12 blocks, the last of which was a state championship victory, the first in program history.

Jackie Taylor has previously honored her father by wearing the same No. 1 jersey at Gulliver that he wore in high school.

“My biggest concern was always to make sure his name stayed alive,” Jackie Taylor told ESPN’s John Keim in November. “It was never a burden, but the connection to him was just a part of me.”

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What happened to Sean Taylor?

Taylor was one of football’s brightest talents, winning two consecutive Pro Bowl seasons in his first four years. On November 27, 2007, Taylor was murdered when a group of people broke into his Florida home and shot him in the leg. The bullet severed his femoral artery, causing significant blood loss and eventual death.

The man who prosecutors said fired the gun was sentenced to more than 57 years in prison in 2014.