Despite signing with the Texas Longhorns as the No. 1 overall high school football prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, Arch Manning has yet to take a single snap during his freshman season at Texas. With Quinn Ewers suffering a shoulder injury this week, however, there was some thought that he could get his first chance to play for the Longhorns – but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.
During his press conference on Monday, Steve Sarkisian revealed that with Quinn Ewers out, both Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning would get first-team reps during practice this week, but it’s pretty clear that Murphy is considered ahead of Manning right now as Sarkisian confirmed he would start “if the game was played today.”
“If the game was being played today, Maalik would start the game,” Sarkisian said during his press conference according to Inside Texas. “Again, Arch will be ready to go.”
Manning, who was considered the No. 1 overall prospect in the country coming out of high school, has not yet played for the Longhorns, though he has impressed during practice. Some expected Manning to push for the starting job as a true freshman, but in a pretty brutal turn of events, it sounds like he’s never been higher than third on the team’s depth chart.
There’s still a chance that Manning impresses so much during this week’s practice that he earns playing time against BYU, but it’s pretty clear that Murphy is ahead of Manning right now.
