With Texas Longhorns starting quarterback Quinn Ewers out with an injury this week, many thought that five-star freshman quarterback Arch Manning would see the first snaps of his college career, especially after he received first-team reps during practice this week, was listed as a co-starter on the depth chart and head coach Steve Sarkisian openly discussed the possibility that he could see the field. But that’s not what happened, and Sarkisian is explaining why.
Not only did second-year quarterback Maalik Murphy start over Arch Manning on Saturday afternoon, but the highly-touted freshman didn’t even see the field. After the game, Sarkisian explained that he just wanted to give Murphy more of a chance to get in a rhythm and didn’t want to mess with that rhythm by subbing in a new quarterback.
“I just wanted to try to find a little more rhythm offensively,” Steve Sarkisian said. “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.”
Sarkisian explained that this was the reason why he was non-committal on the idea of Manning playing this week, because he didn’t want to build up hype only for it to not happen.
“That’s why I’m hesitant on those things to say ‘Yes, he’s going to go in.’ Because now, I’m going to get called a liar because I didn’t put him in. Just felt like it wasn’t the right time.”
Manning has yet to play a single snap this season despite signing with Texas as the highest-rated player in the 2023 college football recruiting class.
