Many college football fans were hoping this would finally be the week that highly-touted five-star freshman quarterback Arch Manning finally made his much-anticipated college football debut with Texas Longhorns starting quarterback Quinn Ewers out with an injury. But unfortunately, that’s not how it played out.
Quinn Ewers missed this week’s game with a shoulder injury sustained last week, but the Longhorns went with second-year quarterback Maalik Murphy as their starter in Ewers’ place instead of Arch Manning, even though Manning received first-team reps and was listed atop the depth chart alongside Murphy. But not only did Manning miss out on the start, but he also didn’t a single snap in relief of Murphy, either.
Following the game, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian explained his decision to keep Manning on the sideline during the game.
“I just wanted to try to find a little more rhythm offensively,” Sarkisian said according to On3. “We just weren’t into the flow that I would have liked. Maybe if we could have punched a couple of those drives in when we got stopped inside the five. But we didn’t. To me, it was making sure we had enough rhythm with Maalik in there.”
It makes sense, but it was still a pretty disappointing decision for fans hoping to see Manning make his college debut, and the college football world had a lot to say about it on social media.
Just let Manning develop. Strength and conditioning are important in a QB and he doesn't need to get hurt before he has a chance to grown into a college player. He has time on his side and may want a shot at the draft some day.
— Mary Annette Johnson (@txajohnson) October 29, 2023
Burning one of his 4 games on the last 2-3 minutes would have been a waste.
— Joe Volpe (@JAVfox) October 29, 2023
Take the points
— Eloy Del Bosque (@Elguapohorn) October 28, 2023
Based. https://t.co/E2O0LIvguM
— CK (@CK_3108) October 29, 2023
just curious, how'd that work for him with all those handoffs?
— Quinn Ewers’ Heisman Trophy (@Wandering_USA) October 28, 2023
Arch got a shot at red shirt.
— Ed Kaloustian Sr (@EdKaloustian) October 29, 2023
Whenever Manning does make his college debut, it will certainly get a lot of attention.
[On3]
