Five-star Texas freshman Arch Manning might get major snaps in Monday’s Sugar Bowl against Washington as the second-team quarterback for the first time this season behind Quinn Ewers, who’s coming off a record-setting performance in the Big 12 Championship Game. Manning, who’s handling all QB2 reps this week following Maalik Murphy’s move to Duke this month, would have no restrictions if Ewers is pushed out of the battle.
“I joked with him the other day, like, ‘You’re not a freshman anymore, this is your sophomore year now.’ What would it look like coming into your sophomore year preparing to play, and that’s what we’re doing,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said this week, via Horns247.
The goal all along was for Manning to redshirt this season if all went well in front of him in the Longhorns’ quarterback room — and it did. His college debut came against Texas Tech in November amid a 50-point hammering of the Red Raiders and featured a 12-yard scramble that threw the Texas home crowd into a frenzy. And now, Manning is the emergency option for an offense led by a signal-caller who threw for 404 yards last time out.
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Here’s some of the buzz surrounding Manning in the Sugar Bowl and a brief summary of the hoopla that’s followed him throughout the campaign:During this week’s media viewing portion of Sugar Bowl practice in New Orleans, those in attendance got a clean look at Ewers and Manning in action in what is now a thinned-out Texas quarterback room. You would be hard-pressed to find a tandem at the position with stronger arms than these two, however. The Longhorns begin the playoff with two former five-stars leading the depth chart, the only final four club with that distinction.
During the Longhorns’ signing day press conference before Christmas, Sarkisian said he’s seen more than enough from Manning during spring practice and his first season on the Forty Acres to be comfortable promoting him up to the No. 2 spot behind Ewers.
“Arch is the backup for this game, he’s more than capable of playing really good football for us,” Sarkisian remarked. “I believe the opportunity he had to play here against (Texas) Tech showed what he’s capable of, and we’ll get him prepared to play.”
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