On Wednesday, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian was incapable of — or unwilling to — provide a possible timetable for the return of redshirt senior safety Michael Taaffe, who underwent thumb surgery
on Monday after sustaining an injury in Saturday’s overtime win over the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington.
As the team’s leading tackler and primary communicator on the back end in addition to serving as one of its most important overall leaders, Taaffe is a key contributor the Longhorns will miss as long as he’s out, even if it’s only two games, as reported by Horns247.
From a communication aspect, defensive passing game coordinator Duane Akina and cornerbacks coach Mark Orphey have worked to facilitate improvements in that area by other key members of the secondary like junior safety Jelani McDonald, junior safety Derek Williams, senior cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau, and junior cornerback Manny Muhammad by “muzzling” Taaffe during certain practices, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian revealed at SEC Media Days.
So the hope is that the Longhorns will receive some payoff from those efforts on Saturday against the Bulldogs in a hostile environment at Davis Wade Stadium that will include the infamous cowbells rung by Mississippi State fans, complicating communication efforts in the secondary.
Tied as the highest-graded safety in the country, according to Pro Football Focus, Taaffe is excellent in coverage, allowing the Texas defensive coaches to have plenty of coverage options on the back end, but it’s his ability to make defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski right by getting out of bad calls that makes him so valuable.
“Every call is not the perfect call and he’s one of those guys that can fix calls, right? And then he just has a really good understanding of the defense, understanding of offensive football, so his communication back there fixes a lot of issues that show up throughout a game,” Kwiatkowski said before preseason camp.
Without Taaffe available against Mississippi State, there will be increased pressure on Kwiatkowski to get his defensive calls right because of the diminished ability to get out of bad calls.
The Horns may also avoid some coverages that Taaffe is able to play better than replacements like redshirt freshman Xavier Filsaime and junior Derek Williams and may lack the ability to disguise them as well.
So although Sarkisian downplayed the impact that missing Taaffe will have on the defensive game plan and in-game adjustments, it could significantly change what Texas carries into the game and the extent to which they can make those adjustments predicated on how Mississippi State is trying to attack the defense.
With Filsaime, the hope is that the McKinney product is healthy and able to contribute after missing the Kentucky game. He was listed as probable in Wednesday’s injury report and has the pure skill set to step into a bigger role while Taaffe is out, although he lacks experience.
“High football IQ. Very athletic. Can cover. Can tackle. Kind of the prerequisites of being a good safety. I think he has all the attributes to do that,” Sarkisian said on Wednesday. “We’ve seen him be very successful on special teams as well. He played a pretty significant amount of football against Oklahoma, so we’ve seen him having to play at a high level. He’s got all the attributes and IQ to be a good football player for us.”
In 48 defensive snaps this season while wearing a shoulder brace, Filsaime is credited by PFF with one assisted tackle, three missed tackles, and a pass broken up against San Jose State — the biggest concern is his ability to get opponents on the ground, an area where Taaffe is elite, especially if the shoulder is continuing to give Filsaime problems and was the cause of him sitting out the Kentucky game.
What’s happening with Williams is even more unclear. After positive buzz during preseason camp about his return from the season-ending knee injury he sustained last year against Oklahoma, Williams hasn’t factored into the safety rotation as heavily as expected. The Louisiana product did tie his season high with 20 snaps on defense against Oklahoma and has 88 on the season, but his limited usage against San Jose State (six snaps) and Florida (three snaps) was surprising.
Known as a strong man coverage defender after arriving on the Forty Acres, Williams has a 63.3 coverage grade this season by PFF, allowing four receptions on five targets for 44 yards — his limited usage may be because of a lack of concern defending the pass compared to where he was before his injury. As a true freshman, for instance, Williams only allowed 6.9 yards per reception, giving up 10 catches on 16 targets.
Less likely to factor into the safety rotation while Taaffe is out are sophomore Jordon Johnson-Rubell and freshman Jonah Williams. Johnson-Rubell has only seen defensive action in blowouts while serving as a core special teams player while Williams is trying to make up for the reps he lost out on working with the baseball team and then recovering from the hamstring injury sustained on the diamond.
There’s still plenty of experienced talent in the Texas secondary that the coaches need to take further steps forward in Taaffe’s absence, but the goal for his replacements is simply to hold things together as much as possible until Taaffe returns.
