Where's the other one? I only see this one.
By James Crepea | jcrepea@al.com
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on March 10, 2017 at 4:05 PM
Marshall Taylor claims he was left in his dorm room by then-Auburn teammate Jovon Robinson after sustaining injuries while at a party last summer.
Speaking publicly for the first time since joining the program, Taylor said the incident, which in part led to Robinson's dismissal, "got ugly real fast" and he sustained "various" injuries.
"We got (to the Columbus, Ga.-area party) and things got ugly real fast," Taylor said following Auburn's pro day on Friday. "I took the worst end of it."
Taylor said there was an issue between Robinson and another man at the party, who accosted him. Robinson, who was not at Auburn's pro day but has been on campus in recent weeks, has denied wrongdoing and told AL.com Taylor fell on his own and there was no physical altercation of any kind.
"I was the first one seen so, I caught the beating," Taylor said. "(Then-defensive backs coach Wesley) McGriff found me in my (dorm) room because my mother was worried and blowing his phone up, he went and got into my room and found me and when they took me in the training room and woke me up."
Regardless of the differing accounts of the incident, it caused Taylor, a graduate transfer from Miami University, to miss the first 19 practices of fall camp.
Taylor, who has eight tackles with three pass breakups last season, said he did not hold any ill will towards Robinson.
"Just as a teammate you just assume that the guy next to you, wearing the same jersey, would have your back but you can't assume," Taylor said. "That's a life lesson learned. I got no hard feelings. I've seen (Robinson) this morning, we didn't speak or anything but I don't have hard feelings.
"He made a decision and he's got to live it. I made the decision to go with him and I got to live with it, which affected my playing time because I missed all of camp but that's life."
Though Robinson discussed attending pro day with an Auburn administrator last month, he did not attend for unspecified reasons. Coach Gus Malzahn declined to specify why the former running back was not there when players dismissed in the past, specifically Demetruce McNeal and D'haquille Williams, were permitted to take part in pro day.
"I'm just going to talk about the guys that performed today here," Malzahn said.
Taylor said he had no input in the matter and was unaware whether Robinson was going to attend or not.
"I was going to do my thing regardless," said Taylor, who had a 34-inch vertical jump, 10-foot-3 broad jump and ran the 40 in an unofficial 4.53 seconds. "I've been training for this day for the last two months. I'm not going to let one person stop two months of grinding that I've been doing."