The landscape of college football has changed dramatically over the past few years, and this has been evident over the past two weeks.
The Nico Iamaleava NIL drama, with him leaving Tennessee due to contract disputes, has sent shockwaves across the college football world, reaching many headlines, especially with Iamaleava committing to UCLA on Sunday. However, there is a different mentality being shown in a fellow SEC member’s locker room
Michael Taaffee Calls Out Transfer Portal Athletes
Taaffe spoke with the media back on Thursday and spoke highly about what is going on in the locker room, despite everything that is going on with NIL and the transfer portal.
Taaffe said that he thought it was cool that a former five-star quarterback and current teammate, Arch Manning, said that ‘he wants to be here’ even in this day and age of college football right now.
“That is so cool to know that a quarterback is saying that,” he said. “You never judge a book by its cover, you know. I would never speak on Nico’s situation because I don’t know who’s really pulling the strings behind the scenes.”
Taaffe also said that not only is Iamaleava making decisions on holding out of practice and entering the transfer portal.
“Is it really him? Is it people in his life? Who’s really saying to hold out of practice,” he said. “The really cool thing about here is everybody’s freaking out about college football, we’re so naive to that.”
Taaffe then said that they don’t talk about NIL or who’s going to leave or stay in the transfer portal.
“If Quandre Diggs came into the locker room, he’d be like, ‘Yeah, its pretty much the same as when I played,'” he said.
It shows what the culture is like in Austin as the Longhorns look to build on their semifinal loss to the eventual national champion Ohio State Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff.
“We have a great culture, we’re bonded with one another,” Taaffe said. “College football is crazy right now, but I don’t see a lot of that going on in our locker room.”
Taaffe will be one of coach Steve Sarkisian’s defensive leaders for the 2025 season, stepping into the role that Jim Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron had, who’s expected to hear his name called at some point during the NFL Draft later this week.
Taaffe finished the 2024-25 season with 78 total tackles, 10 pass deflections, two interceptions, and two sacks for the Texas defense.
KEEP READING: Why Nico Iamaleava Transferred: Timeline and Factors That Led to the Move
He and the rest of the Longhorns defense will have their hands full when they kick off the 2025 season with wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday, Aug. 30.
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