Taurean York, Texas A&M’s ‘Toro,’ is ready for Longhorns

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Taurean York was such a strong and fast little toddler, he reminded his grandmother Rosalinda Diaz Rodriguez of the cattle her father Ezequiel Diaz wrangled in Coahuila, Mexico, before the family moved to the United States in 1969.

York, the junior captain who will lead Texas A&M’s defense against the Texas Longhorns on Friday night, has been nicknamed “Toro” (bull in Spanish) since he was toddler. 

“Toro was strong,” Rodriguez said in Spanish. “Wherever he went, he went quickly. What impressed me the most was that he was very strong, like a bull, you know, ready to gore. 

“He was a Torito (little bull) before, but now he’s a Toro.” 

Strong support system

Taurean York’s family story is one of perseverance, determination and overcoming odds on both sides of his biracial upbringing. His father Robert York was a star football player at Temple High.

Taurean’s mother Rebecca York, a first-generation Mexican American, was a studious member of the Temple High band. Together they built a family in Temple with Robert working two jobs to support the family while also serving as chief disciplinarian and motivator who devoted countless hours teaching his son how to review game film.  

Robert focused on York’s football development. With Rodriguez’s help, Rebecca guided Taurean on academics while Robert made sure there was always extra money for books at the book fair.

Heading into his senior year of high school, Taurean took summer school and online classes to graduate early so he could enroll in college in January 2023. Despite the extra load, Taurean graduated No. 8 in his class at Temple.

More from Our Esquina

With dad’s work ethic, Taurean York steers Texas A&M defense

Texas A&M star KC Concepcion speaks with authority

Familia: KC Concepcion embraces Boricua, Latino love

“Rebecca and Robert raised (Taurean) with good discipline,” Rodriguez said. “Robert is an excellent disciplinarian and he also excelled in the football field when he was in high school. He … passed that on to Taurean, and Taurean got it. 

“Taurean learned it and he worked hard. Taurean is a self-disciplined young man. He worked very hard when people did not believe in him when he was in high school, and he became who he is now through hard work.”

Overcoming early snubs

As his grandmother and parents remember well, some major college programs were hesitant to offer York because of his size. There was a time when Baylor was the best scholarship offer.

There’s no greater love than a mother’s or an abuela’s. Rosalinda Rodriguez is proud of her grandson Taurean York, the Texas A&M captain.
Rodriguez didn’t know anything about football when she came to this country from Mexico at 17.
Now her grandson is a leader for the Aggies. pic.twitter.com/0Qao1Y8FvT

— Our Esquina (@OurEsquina) November 22, 2025

York committed to the Bears. He re-opened his recruitment after a staff change at Baylor late in 2022. He visited the University of Texas in high school, but the Longhorns never offered him. 

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, who was at Duke at the time, offered York a scholarship. Some smaller schools were hesitant to offer York a football scholarship because they didn’t want to waste an official visit on a prospect they assumed would be too good to accept their offer. 

SEC powers were scared away by Taurean York’s stature. As every good Aggie knows, however, a smaller Toro can be just as dangerous as a big one. With a strong work ethic, plenty of talent and a football IQ that has teammates, coaches and opponents raving about his ability to lead the Aggies’ defense, York is a three-year starter. 

He is a two-year captain after becoming a rare sophomore captain in 2024. York, who is young for his grade as a 20-year-old junior, leads the Aggies in tackles for the second year in a row with 56. He has accumulated 212 tackles over 37 games, all starts, during his three-year career.

‘Self motivated’

“Taurean is very self motivated,” Rebecca York said. “And he knew playing in the SEC was going to give him the stage that he needed. He knows what he’s capable of and he knows you’re going to go against the top competition in the country in the SEC. Taurean loves competition.”

York didn’t commit to Texas A&M until Dec. 19, 2022, a few weeks before he was set to enroll. During his official visit on Dec. 17-18, he visited the complex where most of the athletes live.

From a balcony, Rebecca and Taurean saw Kyle Field on the horizon. They could see the entire campus and much of the city too. 

“You deserve this,” Rebecca told Taurean as they looked at Kyle Field.

Then they looked at each other for a few seconds, smiled and declared practically in unison, “Yeah.’”

He impressed in the spring and then again in the summer and fall camps to earn a starting spot as a freshman in 2023. Elko and teammates rave about York’s work ethic and leadership. York is almost fanatical in his commitment to watch game film.

Equally important, he’s smart enough to notice tendencies and make quick decisions to position his teammates. Robert York taught his son how to break down film. By holding down two jobs, he also taught Taurean about work ethic.

Proud abuela

According to Robert, though, his mother in-law Rosalinda Rodriguez is the heart of the family. You cannot tell Taurean York’s story without the story of the abuela who nicknamed him “Torito,” little bull, before promoting him to “Toro.”

Rodriguez was born in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. Her father and brothers worked as ranch hands tending to cattle and field crops. She learned some English in Mexico before graduating from the middle school equivalent in her hometown in 1967.

Ezequiel Diaz and his sons moved to Belton, Texas, ahead of Rosalinda and the rest of the family. Rosalinda was 17 years old when she moved to Temple on Christmas Day 1969 when Diaz gathered his family in the United States.

Rodriguez took English as a Second Language classes from 7 to 9 p.m. three nights a week. Then in 1971, her older brother paid for the tuition so she could enroll at Temple College.

She instilled that devotion to sacrifice and education in her children and grandchildren. 

“We learned the values of hard work, discipline, not just at work but also discipline in the home,” Rodriguez said. “My father was an excellent role model. My father did not drink, did not smoke, did not curse. And that’s what I wanted as a husband, someone just like that.

“They worked hard. They came here and they continued to work hard. We got some education and learned the English language, but all of us worked at it. We became naturalized citizens.”

Mexican staples at home

Rodriguez was retired by the time Taurean was born, so she was York’s babysitter most of his life. She fed him all of the Mexican staples. Beans. Rice. Tortillas. He even learned how to make tamales for special holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Trips to McDonald’s were also common, she notes with a smile. Rosalinda speaks English fluently now. She’s almost poetic when she discusses her grandson’s journey from Temple to College Station five decades after her journey from Mexico to Texas. 

She’s proud of the work ethic her father instilled in her and the same work ethic Rebecca and Robert York instilled Taurean. Rosalinda truly lights up, though, when she speaks in Spanish as she recounts why she began calling Taurean “Torito.”

In Mexican culture, perhaps no nickname evokes strength and power quite like Toro. There’s a reason Fernando Valenzuela, the greatest Mexican star in Major League Baseball history, was nicknamed El Toro. Taurean York is proud of his Mexican roots and the sacrifices his maternal great grandfather and uncles made to provide for his maternal grandmother Rosalinda.

Taurean carries those lessons with him, using them as motivation on days when he would rather skip a workout or run. Toro is more than a nickname. It’s a mentality, a toughness and willingness to extend himself.

Rodriguez didn’t know anything about football when she arrived from Coahuila 56 years ago. Now, her beloved Toro is one of the captains for the No. 3 team in the country. 

“I definitely think about it a lot,” Taurean York says, “because my family came from Mexico. I definitely use that on days when I don’t feel like waking up and coming into the facility and putting in the work that I know I should be putting in. 

“There’s a lot of women in my life as well that wake up every day even when they don’t want to go to work. That’s why I’m grinding from (sunrise) to sundown to make sure they never have to work again.”