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Cooper Taylor was in elementary school in the Atlanta area back in the late 1990s when Jason Sehorn was starring for the Giants as a one-of-a-kind cornerback. Not many rookies about to enter the NFL nowadays point to Sehorn as the player they emulate, but there is a glaring reason why Taylor does.
“I’m definitely kind of an enigma for the position, not a whole lot of guys like me,’’ Taylor said during the recently
completed Giants rookie mini-camp. “Hopefully that plays to my advantage.’’
Sehorn might not have been an enigma, but he was unique, sticking out as an uncommonly tall (6-foot-2) cornerback, at the time the only white starting corner in the league. A devastating knee injury nearly grounded his rocketing career, but there were years when Sehorn was a breathtaking performer, so much so that late team patriarch Wellington Mara quietly labeled Sehorn one of the best he ever had seen.
Taylor also sticks out because, well, he sticks out. At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, the fifth-round pick from Richmond by way of Georgia Tech sure looks like a football player, but not a safety.
“I get a lot of quarterback, I get a lot of tight end,’’ he said. “When I tell ’em safety, I usually get a second look.’’
With good reason. Put Taylor in a room with returning safeties Antrel Rolle (6-foot), Stevie Brown (5-11) and Will Hill (6-1) and one head will rise above the others. Marc Ross, the Giants’ director of college scouting, views Taylor as a “hidden gem,’’ and he certainly is an intriguing physical specimen.
Just like Sehorn was.
“You don’t have to look it, as long as you can play it,’’ Sehorn told The Post.
Sehorn was taken aback hearing a Giants rookie is trying to pattern himself after him. The two nearly share the same birthday — Taylor’s is April 14, Sehorn’s April 15, but they are 19 years apart.
“It’s very flattering,’’ said Sehorn, 42, a college football analyst for ESPN and married to actress Angie Harmon. “You grow up watching people and you kind of become a fan of them. I’m big, he’s big, you start to see similarities. I think every athlete looks to somebody else as a similarity in body type to say ‘OK, there’s a match for me, I can do this.’ ’’
Taylor said his father, Jim Bob
(a quarterback for the Colts in 1983) pointed out Sehorn to him because he was “another fast white guy.’’ Taylor studied big safeties such as Steve Atwater and John Lynch but was especially drawn to tapes and video of Sehorn.
“One of the best DBs to play the game, really especially as a speed-size guy, a bigger corner who could run and was a great player,’’ Taylor said of Sehorn. “Kind of my build out there, seeing a guy like that and relating to that. That’s what I saw in his being a taller guy and being able to transition with his footwork and run and cover ground and make breaks on the ball, that’s what attracted me to his game.’’
Taylor stayed home to play at Georgia Tech but his progress was derailed when, playing as a sophomore, he felt his heart racing during a 2009 game in Miami. He was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome — abnormal electrical pathways in the heart.
“When it comes to heart conditions, it’s a good one to have because they can fix it 100 percent,’’ Taylor said.
Surgery corrected the problem and Taylor eventually transferred to Richmond. He doesn’t enjoy talking about the medical scare.
“I’m 100 percent cleared, no tests, no medications, no nothing on that end,’’ he said. “I try to forget it. I try to put it in the past and move on.’’
His arrival to the Giants is interesting — defensive coordinator Perry Fewell is a proponent of using three safeties on the field at one time. Several teams looked at Taylor as an outside linebacker, and he could fill a hybrid, dual-position role within the Giants’ defense.
Sehorn said he hopes the Giants don’t ask Taylor to bulk up for a move to linebacker.
“Size is the box they place you in in the beginning, and it’s up to you to convince them it’s inappropriate or it’s wrong,’’ Sehorn said. “Leave him at safety. Let him break the mold. I know when I got to the Giants that first year they put me at safety and I was kind of miserable because I didn’t really want to play safety. I felt I was athletic enough to play corner.’’
Sehorn, who was with the Giants from 1994-2002, recalls going into the defensive back meeting room.
“It was 10 or 11 guys, I was the only white guy in there,” he said. “As the only white guy in the room, you’re gonna take some ribbing. It’s fine because you’re with guys you spend so much time with. That was harmless and fun, never derogatory.’’
He never made a big deal of being the only white starting cornerback in the league, and in fact tried to downplay that distinction. He wore long sleeves on the field his entire career, attempting to blend in.
“I never wanted it to be an issue. I never wanted to be thought about or pointed out. I just wanted
to play football,’’ Sehorn said. “I never liked to be known as the only white corner. It’s an awkward situation to talk about it. I never understand why that has any bearing on anything. Can you play or not play? It was unique, I’ll give it that.’’
Taylor said looking different than the mold is “something you have to deal with,” but he doesn’t see it as a factor in the NFL. He’s fast (4.49 in the 40-yard dash) and views his towering height for a safety as a big plus against skyscraper receivers, and especially NBA-sized tight ends.
Sehorn said he knows his height helped him challenge the Randy Moss-type receivers he fared so well against and is eager to see Taylor in action as an oversized younger version of himself.
“I think it’s pretty cool that he plays for the Giants,’’ Sehorn said. “He plays for the team I played for, that’s kind of cool. Tell him I’ll be watching him.’’
paul.schwartz@nypost.com