Michael Taaffe returning to Texas for the 2025 season
The former walk-on is back. Texas defensive back Michael Taaffe is returning to the Longhorns for the 2025 season, he announced Tuesday.
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Taaffe, part of the No. 7 pass defense and the No. 3 total defense in the nation, was an AP second-team All-American in 2024 after earning a scholarship in December of 2022.
Taaffe was one of the emotional leaders of the 2024 Longhorns and thrived on the field alongside longtime friends and Austin-area compatriots in Jahdae Barron and Andrew Mukuba. He started every game in the 2024 season, and has 26 starts in his career along with 43 appearances. In 2024, Taaffe posted 78 tackles with 5.5 for loss and 2.0 sacks, plus two interceptions. One was at Vanderbilt off of Diego Pavia, the other was at Texas A&M off of Marcel Reed in the early stages of the win over the Aggies.
A longtime Longhorn fan, Taaffe spoke often about his love for the University of Texas and explained why he was unable to contain his emotions following the Longhorns’ loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
“This team’s so special to me,” Taaffe said. “Just for this chapter of this book to close for this team, as far as we can’t play another game together. That hurt. Emotionally that hurts. Just to not be able to play with those guys ever again, wearing the burnt orange.”
He’d later add, “wearing this burnt orange, that’s something I hold a lot of pride in my life. I’m a fifth generation Longhorn and I grew up wanting to be on this stage every moment of my life. And to know we left it all out there. Everything we had. It was cut short and that’s emotional for me.”
In 43 career games, Taaffe has five interceptions along with 152 tackles, 8.5 of them for loss, 2.0 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a blocked punt.
He started his rise up the depth chart in the 2022 season after redshirting in 2021. He played in 13 games, mostly on special teams, but notched a start at Kansas in the Longhorns’ dominant win over the Jayhawks. He tallied 26 tackles and a pass breakup on his way to earning a scholarship.
He stepped into a more prominent role in 2023, playing in every game and starting nine of them. His three interceptions were at critical junctures of three wins for Texas over Houston, BYU, and Kansas State in consecutive weeks.
Taaffe maintained his spot in the starting lineup in 2024, becoming part of the best secondary in the nation and playing a key role in Barron’s trek toward consensus All-American status and the 2024 Jim Thorpe Award.
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A former walk-on from Austin (Texas) Westlake, Taaffe was unranked coming out of high school.
The post Michael Taaffe returning to Texas for the 2025 season appeared first on On3.
