Updates from Anthony Hill, Michael Taaffe from their Tuesday session with the media
Texas defensive standouts Anthony Hill and Michael Taaffe were available to the media on Tuesday morning, talking up the Longhorns as the season is just 11 days away. Here are updates from their session with the media.
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Anthony Hill
Hill on ignoring outside noise, hype, and all the attention: “It’s not hard to ignore if you focus on what you need to do every day.”
Hill says Ty’Anthony Smith brings the energy every day: “Since he is a little more slender, he has to be more physical than everyone else. He has to bring a little bit more on every pop. He’s been doing a good job on that and working that.”
Hill on Texas reaching back to back CFP semis: “We think about it. How could you not think about losing those games back to back? Then again, we want to focus day by day and not think about the national championship. We’ve got to go win week one before we go think about winning week 16.”
Hill says he loves how physical the defense has been. “We play physical and be smart? That’s one thing I can ask for, and then we can live with the results.”
Graceson Littleton and Xavier Filsaime are the two best young communicators on the defense, according to Anthony Hill.
Arch has been extending plays with his legs well in practice, according to Hill.
Anthony Hill claims he forgot he was mic’ed up in the recent Texas Football video. Lots of good clips from Hill on that tape, especially when talking with individual teammates. He focuses a lot on keeping it fun on the field.
From fall camp, Trey Moore’s footwork has drastically improved, according to Hill. He’s going to play that edge-LB combo.
Michael Taaffe
“How’s my player on the game?,” Michael Taaffe just asked Anthony Hill about NCAA 26 at the end of Hill’s presser. “He’s not really fast, but he makes plays,” was what Hill had to say.
Michael Taaffe on communication, with a hoarse voice: “If you can’t tell, it’s pretty good right now. My voice is totally beat right now. Everybody’s talking really loud. Everybody’s communicating.”
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Taaffe on Arch Manning, somewhat jokingly: “He’s got really good days and he’s got days where we win. I’d say today, he had a really good day.”
Can this defense be better than last year? Michael Taaffe: “Sure it can.” Mentions it’s hard to replace the NFL departures, but with Hill, Simmons, Lefau, McDonald, Muhammad, Guilbeau, and Black all back — “yeah, we can be better.”
Michael Taaffe on Xavier Filsaime, who he calls a 10.5 100m guy: “That helps.” — “He’s grown his game mentally so much from freshman to sophomore year.”
“Every single day when I wake up I think ‘Man this is awesome, I’m truly living my dream,” Taaffe said on returning to Texas. “Everything I do every single day is because I’m so blessed.”
Roschon Johnson, Anthony Cook, DeMarvion Overshow and Jaylan Ford were players Taaffe looked up to as a younger player on the team.
One freshman WR that’s impressed Michael Taaffe? “I think Kaliq Lockett had a really good scrimmage on Saturday.”
