Michael Taaffe thinks the 2025 Texas defense can be better than 2024

AUSTIN (KXAN) — It’s become a sports cliche over the year, but the “next man up” mentality at Texas is truly what will propel this year’s version of the Longhorns forward, according to All-American defensive back Michael Taaffe.

The 2024 Texas defense was terrific. The Longhorns tied with BYU for the FBS lead in interceptions with 22 and were No. 3 with 15.31 points allowed and 283.4 total yards per game. The red zone defense was great, keeping teams from scoring from inside the 20 yard-line at about a 30% rate, third best in FBS, and they allowed 173.8 passing yards per game, No. 7 in FBS.

Taaffe told reporters Tuesday that despite the defense losing outstanding players Jahdae Barron, Andrew Mukuba, Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton and Barryn Sorrell to the NFL, the rest of the unit is back and the young talent is starting to shine.

“It’s hard to replace those guys,” Taaffe said, “but when you have Anthony Hill a year older, Liona Lefau a year older, Colin Simmons a year older, myself, Jelani (McDonald), Manny (Muhammad), (Jaylon) Guilbeau, Kobe Black … and then you add guys, I think, yeah, you can be better, for sure.”

Taaffe also mentioned sophomore defensive back Xavier Filsaime, who played seven games in his freshman season last year, has impressed during training camp. He wouldn’t be surprised if Filsaime played his fair share solely because of the growth he’s made from his freshman year.

“He was a 10.5, 10.6, guy in the 100 out of high school, so that helps,” Taaffe said. “He’s grown his game mentally so much from his freshman to sophomore year, so we you put the athletic ability with the mental side, it clicks and he’s scary.”

Along with Simmons and Hill, Taaffe was named a preseason All-American by the Associated Press. He said the distinction is cool, but at the same time, said he’d rather not be a preseason All-America.

“There are so many preseason All-Americans that aren’t All-Americans,” he said. “Since I’ve been named one at the end of the season, I’m almost like, don’t name me one now. I want to go prove it. I want to earn it.”

Taaffe’s story at Texas could be a feel-good Netflix special one day if he wanted it to be. He came into the Longhorns program out of Westlake High School in Austin as a walk-on and didn’t play a down in his first year while the team went 5-7 in 2021.

The harder he worked, the more game action he saw, and eventually, he earned a scholarship to play at the school he grew up cheering for. He’s a fifth-generation Longhorn, and he said he’s literally living out his dream playing for a program that’s back to being nationally relevant and competing for championships in his backyard.

He was named a second-team All-American last year and could have declared for the 2025 NFL Draft, and he probably would have been selected. But he had to come back, he said. He loves Texas too much.

“Every single day when I wake up, I say to myself, ‘Man, this is awesome,'” he said. “Everything that I do, every single day, is because I’m so blessed. I see those TikToks where it’s like your 5-year-old self would be looking up and be happy that you are where you are, and when I was 5 years old, this is exactly where I wanted to be.”