Arch Manning will not be the starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns this weekend. However, it seems like Steve Sarkisian is fully prepared to play the five-star freshman in a “break if necessary” kind of situation.
This is a new development, considering how things looked in Austin before the college football season.
Arch Manning, the top-ranked recruit in the Class of 2023, skipped out on his senior year of high school basketball and arrived to Texas in January. The goal was to get him in the system, get him on a college weight training and nutritional plan, and to get him ahead of the curve in terms of development.
There was never any thought that Manning would be QB1. Quinn Ewers had that job locked up.
There was never any thought that Manning would be QB2. Texas’ NIL collective ponied up a big sum of money to keep Maalik Murphy from transferring during the offseason.
Manning was going to be QB3 and take a redshirt year. That is still the case. He has yet to take a single snap during his freshman season and is expected to save his first year of eligibility.
Because of a rule change in 2018, redshirts can play in up to four games. And as it would turn out, Manning may be forced to play significant minutes this year after all.
Ewers is injured. The Longhorns’ star quarterback is going to miss “some time” with a Grade 2 AC Joint sprain.
Murphy will take his place. Murphy will start this weekend at home against BYU.
Arch Manning will be ready.
Where a path to playing time was once long and winding for Manning, it is now much more direct. There is just one man between him and the starting job.
If everything goes according to plan, Murphy will play all 60 minutes and win.
If the game was being played today, Maalik would start the game.
— Steve Sarkisian
If things start to go south, it sounds like Sarkisian is willing to go to the inexperienced (no experience) freshman. The 49-year-old head coach said on Monday that both Manning and Murphy will get first-team reps throughout the week.
His approach is rather unusual.
Typically, after the starting quarterback gets injured, the backup slated to replace him gets all of the first-team reps during practice. The backup, in this case Manning, would see second-team reps.
Not this week. Not in Austin.
Murphy and Manning will split reps. Both guys will be ready to go.
Would Sarkisian bench Murphy in favor of Manning if things start to go south early? We will see.