Texas Longhorns' dynamic duo rightfully honored in special way ahead of college football season as key leaders of defense in 2025
The Texas Longhorns may have just sent two defensive backs off to the NFL Draft this spring, but their secondary still looks stacked heading into the 2025 college football season. Veteran safety Michael Taaffe and Malik Muhammad make for quite a dynamic duo that should keep the Longhorns' secondary exactly where it needs to be and apparently the experts agree with that too based on the 2025 Jim Thorpe Award Preseason Watch List that just released this week.
Texas defensive back duo Malik Muhammad and Michael Taaffe make the Jim Thorpe Award Preseason Watch List
For those unfamiliar with the Jim Thorpe Award, it's awarded to the "nation's best defensive back". Longhorns fans should be quite familiar with the award considering three former stars for Texas have won the award over the years–Jahdae Barron doing so just last season following his phenomenal season.Both Malik Muhammad and Michael Taaffe made the Jim Thorpe Award Preseason Watch List thanks to their incredible 2024 seasons and likely continued ascension to greatness in 2025. Can either of them actually win it?
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Looking back at Jahdae Barron's award-winning 2024 campaign, if Malik Muhammad or Michael Taaffe want to actually win the Jim Thorpe Award they're likely going to have to stack the stats sheet. Barron snagged five interceptions, defended double-digit passes, racked up nearly 70 tackles, and won All-American honors. That's going to be a tough feat for any Texas player to repeat.The edge between the two Longhorns stars likely lies with Michael Taaffe if any Texas player is going to win the award. He plays a much more diverse, tackle-heavy role than Muhammad and could see a much higher available rate of passes to defend. Why? Muhammad plays almost exclusively outside corner, so he doesn't cross many other passing lanes naturally in coverage. He also doesn't always play in tight to the formation to rack up tackles against the run.Regardless of whether any Texas player actually wins the award, it's great to see the dynamic duo of Muhammad and Taaffe both make the list, tying a few other elite programs for the most players represented this year (with two).
We'll be back with more Texas Longhorns coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Aug 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
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