Villanova head football coach Andy Talley calls them "the bookends" of his defense.
With two preseason All-Atlantic-10 linemen as his bookends, Talley knows he has one scary library coming up to the line of scrimmage on every snap.
When No. 11 Villanova (2-1) comes into town to play No. 22 Penn (1-0) at Franklin Field tomorrow night, the Wildcats will come equipped with arguably the best defense in Division I-AA football, the cornerstones of which are senior defensive ends Jamil Butler and Terence Taylor.
"They've got a nice combination of speed, size, experience and they play hard," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "These kids are legitimate pass rushers, legitimate run stoppers. ... We're going to be tested."
Taylor and Butler have very different football pasts and styles of play, but they have converged onto Villanova's campus as complements in a pass rush that keeps quarterbacks up at night.
Taylor began his football career finding holes in the defensive line, not plugging them.
Villanova scouts spotted Taylor in high school as a strong athletic running back, but approached him with the idea of making a position change.
"We didn't feel he could be running back here," Talley said. "He was pretty wide open to [switching to defense], since he was looking at his best chance to go the next level. He thought he could grow into a pro-sized defensive end at our place."
Three years later and 40 pounds bulkier, Taylor has slowly developed into a first-team preseason All-Conference pick.
"We expected more from him in past years because of his pro size," Talley said. "He should be awesome, and this year he's playing awesome."
Butler, on the other hand, arrived at Villanova as one of the top defensive high school players in the Philadelphia area.
Like Taylor, Butler received scholarship offers from most Atlantic-10 squads. However, he chose Villanova to stay close to his family.
While Taylor took a couple years to develop into the strong defender he is now, Butler has been "consistently successful," Talley said. Butler had 55 and 68 tackles in his first two years of eligibility, leading the team in sacks and fumble recoveries his sophomore year.
Now together on the starting line, Butler and Taylor bring different approaches to motivating their teammates on and off the field.
Butler, a two-year captain, is "very vocal ... the heart and soul of our defense," Talley said.
Taylor, on the other hand, is more quiet and tries to lead by example with Butler.
While the Wildcats are known for stopping the run, Butler and Taylor excel in the pass rush, and will definitely challenge the Quakers' receiving corps to make some big plays tomorrow.
"Their passing attack sets up their running game," Talley said of the Quakers. "They'll test us in the passing game to see if we can handle it."
The Wildcats have held two of their three opponents this season to under 100 passing yards, so Penn will have its hands full after a sloppy passing game in its 61-18 thrashing of San Diego last weekend.
"They are definitely a force to be reckoned with," Penn senior wide receiver Dan Castles said. "We have to do things to slow them down a little bit. I don't know if they can be stopped."
Even though the Quakers moved up in the rankings to No. 22 after crushing San Diego, they understand that the real season starts tomorrow night.
And with a relatively inexperienced quarterback and offensive line, the Red and Blue expect Butler and Taylor to test their strength and endurance.
"We will have a much better barometer of what our breaking point is coming out of this game than coming out of San Diego," Bagnoli said. "One of the tests is if we physically hold up."
"They are great players, but I think we have some good players, too," Castles said. "As long as we play as hard as we can, I think we'll be alright."
