2022 Football Roster
Jersey Number 12
Taijh Alston
- Position:
- Defensive Line
- Height:
- 6-4
- Weight:
- 255
- Class:
- Redshirt Senior
- Hometown:
- Lumberton, N.C.
- High School:
- Union Pines
- Prev School:
- Copiah-Lincoln CC
- Has played in 16 career games, including 12 starts
- Preseason All-Big 12 Conference Fourth Team (Athlon Sports)
2021 (r-Jr.)
- Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year Honorable Mention selection
- Played in 13 games, including 12 starts
- Finished with 37 tackles, including 23 solo stops, five sacks and 11 tackles for loss
- Ranked No. 2 on the team in tackles for loss (11)
- Recorded three tackles, including a tackle for loss and a forced fumble, in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl against Minnesota
- Had three tackles against Texas
- Registered his fifth sack of the year at Kansas State
- Had three tackles against Oklahoma State and assisted on a tackle for loss
- One of his two tackles against Iowa State was for a loss
- Recorded three tackles at TCU
- Had five tackles against Texas Tech, including 2.5 behind the line for TFLs
- Finished with a pair of sacks at Oklahoma, a career high
- Tallied 1 1/2 sacks against Virginia Tech to go along with four total tackles
- Earned his first career start at Maryland and had five tackles, including a TFL
2020 (COVID)
- Worked his way back from his previous year’s injury and played against Army in the Liberty Bowl
2019 (r-So.)
- Played in two games before sustaining a season-ending knee injury at Missouri
- Finished with a sack against James Madison
- Enrolled at West Virginia in January
2018 (r-Fr.) – Copiah-Lincoln CC
- Played for coach Glen Davis at Copiah Lincoln Community College
- First team All-Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC)
2017 (Fr.) – East Carolina
- Redshirted
- Enrolled at East Carolina in January but transferred to Copiah-Lincoln in the summer
High School
- Three-year varsity starter as a defensive end for coach Ryan Riggan at Union Pines
- Earned All-Cape Fear Valley 3-A Conference First-Team honors
- Charlotte Observer ranked him as a top-25 recruit in North Carolina
- Three-star rating per 247Sports and Scout
- Also a standout in basketball
Personal
- Son of Donald Fairley and Chrystal Dowd
- One of eight children (4 brothers, 3 sisters)
- Graduated in December 2020 with his bachelor’s degree in multidisciplinary studies and is pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in sport management
- Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll
- Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll
Reid Carrico | Oct. 25
Saturday, October 25
Jeff Weimer | Oct. 25
Saturday, October 25
Rich Rodriguez | Oct. 25
Saturday, October 25
Weimer Cuts the Deficit to Six with a Late TD
Saturday, October 25
