Nebraska's Antrell Taylor wins wrestling national title after losing dad, brother to gun violence

    OMAHA (KETV) -- Wrestling wasn’t the first sport Antrell Taylor tried.

“He was out on the basketball court tackling people,” said Tammy Taylor, his mother. “Then I put him in flag football, and then he was tackling people.”

It was his father’s idea to try wrestling.

In 2011, Taylor’s dad, Darrell Taylor, was shot and killed. The case remains unsolved.

“He just grasped on to what his dad taught him, and he has never given up,” Tammy Taylor added.

Last weekend, he became the 2025 NCAA champion at 157 pounds.

At Millard South, Taylor won back-to-back-to-back state titles in 2020 through 2022.

The Patriots’ wrestling program has a lot of history, but coach Nate Olson says Taylor is their first Division I champion.

“His work ethic was incredible. It didn’t matter if we were at a local tournament or at nationals. When the lights turned on, he just excelled,” Olson said.

After Taylor joined the Huskers, his brother Adrrell was also shot and killed in gang violence. The family says Adrrell had stepped in to be like a father to Antrell.

The family now thanks Husker coach Mark Manning for his guidance on and off the mat to put Antrell in a position to win the title.

“Manning, he’s in it for every aspect of your life," Antrell said. "Through the good, the bad. At my brother’s funeral, he sat in the front row with me."

Manning said, “What an amazing story that guy is, I’d just run through the wall for Antrell. He means so much."