The No. 13 Texas Longhorns will officially be without another member of the defense when they square off in the Citrus Bowl, as safety Michael Taaffe declared for the NFL Draft.
Taaffe started his career at Texas as a walk-on after choosing to forego other scholarship offers and bet on himself at his dream school. Following the 2024 campaign, Taaffe announced that he was returning for another year, hoping to finish his career on a high note. Those gambles paid off as he finished the 2025 season as the Wuerfel Award winner and earned his second All-American selection for the Longhorns. As a three-year starter, Taaffe was both a vocal and a physical leader for the defense, amassing 196 career tackles and seven interceptions across the years.
He also turned in some of the most memorable plays of recent Texas history, including what was effectively a game-sealing interception in the regular season finale against the Texas A&M Aggies.
Taaffe’s announcement seemingly indicates that he will not be playing in the upcoming Citrus Bowl game, leaving the Texas secondary in need of production from the younger members of the unit. Derek Williams, Jr. has already indicated that he will enter the transfer portal once it opens on January 2, 2026, meaning that a combination of Jelani McDonald, Jonah Williams, Xavier Filsaime, and several other young players needs to step up as the Longhorns square off against the Michigan Wolverines on New Year’s Eve.
