Michael Taaffe details his involvement in Arch Manning's recruitment
When Michael Taaffe received a phone call from Texas safeties coach Blake Gideon offering a preferred walk-on opportunity, little did anyone involved with the Longhorns know that a safety from Austin (Texas) Westlake would be a critical figure in UT earning a commitment from Arch Manning in this century’s highest profile recruitment.
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The first interaction between Taaffe and Manning was a surprising one for the Longhorn safety, who though an accomplished Texas high school football player and a two-time state champion himself, didn’t have anything close the level of national attention Manning had surrounding him.
“He came up to me and I knew who he was,” Taaffe said Monday. “I tried to give him my two cents of why he should come to Texas. He did (know who I was). I was just a freshman walk-on and he just acknowledged that I played at Westlake and had my success there.”
The duo continued to interact, and Taaffe ended up hosting Manning on his official visit. They had bonded plenty before the June 2022 official trip.
“From then on, we just started texting and I kept getting in his ear a little bit, and I think the coaches noticed that,” Taaffe said. “Maybe he texted the coaches about that, so they put me with him. It was really easy because he’s a really likeable guy. He’s a really awesome guy. It’s fun to be around him. It’s wasn’t like I had to bring this guy around to show him this or that. It was ‘hey, this is one of my friends. I’m going to invite him because I like to be around him.'”
Taaffe took Manning to some well-known places around the University of Texas campus on his official visit, and tried to show Manning all different sights and sounds. During all of their adventures, football was their main focus.
“I know Dirty Martin’s was one of them,” Taaffe said. “I know where the pretty girls were, that’s where I was trying to go to. I just showed him the Forty Acres, and I showed him what it meant to be a Texas football player. He also really wants Texas football to be in the national championship conversation. It was a lot of one-on-one talk about, how are we going to get there? Just me and him, how are we going to bring Texas football to where it needs to be and where we’re going right now?”
Taaffe said he never pressured or prodded Manning too much about his finalists, saying their conversations were mostly about football. Taaffe added, “he loves the game of football probably more than anyone I’ve ever known.”
It took the efforts of an entire program to land Manning, especially with Texas battling national powers like Alabama and Georgia. Taaffe played a critical role, forging a bond that helped the Longhorns earn the services of the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2023 On3 Industry Ranking.
