Nick Saban's daughter Kristen shows love to Texas DB Michael Taaffe's special gesture towards flood victims at SEC media days

Michael Taaffe had a special way to honor the memories of those who lost their lives in the Central Texas flooding last week. The All-American defensive back was one of the three players who represented the Longhorns at the SEC media days in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday.

Taaffe had the initials of the campers and counselors who died at Camp Mystic during the flooding on his tie at the event. It was a gesture many applauded around the country.

Nick Saban’s daughter, Kristen, showed love for Taaffe's gesture on Tuesday. The long-term Alabama fan shared the picture of the tie from an Instagram post on her story, captioning it with “SM💙.”

Kristen Saban's Instagram story via @kristennsaban

Michael Taaffe also explained a little bit about his tie during his session at the SEC media days. The safety has some good words to narrate the inspiration behind his thoughtful gesture.

“The Texas floods happened this past week,” Taffee said. “And Camp Mystic is a girls' church camp that was impacted pretty seriously. So all these initials are all the victims at Camp Mystic that lost their lives in the tragic flooding this past weekend.

“It's all the daughters, the 8-year-old girls that passed away in the cabins and their two counselors who gave their lives being heroes trying to save those daughters and those girls, and then the camp director who went back into the floods to try to save those girls' lives.

“I wanted to remember those victims because they deserve a light like this. What they did, they should be heroes, they should be remembered.”

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Michael Taaffe names the biggest challenge for Texas’ secondary in 2025

Texas’ secondary recorded a lot of success last season. Despite playing their first season in the SEC, the unit was able to shine bright within the program’s solid defense. During a Q&A at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta on Tuesday, Michael Taaffe was questioned on the biggest challenge for the secondary entering the 2025 season.

“The first answer, how are we going to handle success?” Taaffe asked. “So we obviously had a lot of success. We had the Thorpe Award winner in our backend. We had a second-round draft pick in our backend. And we had a couple of guys returning. So, how are we going to handle success?

“And are we going to be complacent with that success, or are we going to raise the bar and raise the standard? What I'm always trying to do is I'm trying to raise the standard and understand that there's a bar and we've got to reset that every single year to keep chasing greatness.”

Michael Taaffe was a second-team All-American last season, and he returns in 2025 as one of the leaders in the secondary. The defensive back unit boasts notable names like Kobe Black, Jelani McDonald, Malik Muhammad, Jaylon Guilbeau, Derek Williams Jr. and a host of others.