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The NFL Draft announcements are starting to roll in for Texas football players.
Jaydon Blue, Kelvin Banks Jr. and Hayden Connor each announced their intent to make the jump to the pros and declare for the draft in 2025 on Sunday.
Which other looming decisions will heavily shape the image of the Longhorns in 2025?
Here are a handful of players to watch who could choose to turn pro or come back to Texas.
Quarterback Quinn Ewers
Quinn Ewers seemed to make his intentions clear when he told ESPN’s Pete Thamel before the Cotton Bowl that he doesn’t expect to play another season of college football.
Still, until he’s made a definitive declaration, his name has to be included in this discussion.
Ewers brought Texas to the College Football Playoff twice and threw for 9,128 yards and 68 touchdowns in three seasons as a Longhorn.
FILM STUDY: Texas football film study: How Ohio State exploited Longhorns in big moments in CFP
Safety Michael Taaffe
Few people not named Michael Taaffe would have thought the former walk-on could craft himself into a genuine NFL Draft prospect when he arrived on campus in 2021.
Named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press in 2024, he’s done exactly that.
His decision is a crucial one for the Longhorns, who are already losing Andrew Mukuba to graduation. Will they return one of the best defensive backs in college football to anchor their secondary? Or will they be forced into starting a pair of relatively inexperienced faces in 2025 in Jelani McDonald and Derek Williams Jr.?
Wide receivers Matthew Golden and Isaiah Bond
The second half of the season didn’t quite work out the way Texas or Isaiah Bond would have envisioned. Dealing with a pair of ankle injuries, Bond caught 14 passes for 176 yards in nine games from the beginning of October through the end of the season.
BREAKING IT DOWN: The Texas…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/key-nfl-draft-decisions-shape-183147610.html
Author : Austin American-Statesman
Publish date : 2025-01-13 18:31:00
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