Steve Sarkisian doesn’t totally close the door on QB competition despite naming starter
By John Buhler
Steve Sarkisian essentially named incumbent Quinn Ewers the Texas starter, but he is not closing the door on a good, old-fashioned quarterback competition just yet.
Despite naming Quinn Ewers the starter (subscription required), Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will allow redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy and true freshman Arch Manning to compete for big opportunities in this Longhorns offense.
As Texas completed its annual spring game on Saturday, Sarkisian pretty much indicated that Ewers will be the guy going forward. Ewers is a five-star talent entering his third season of college football, but Murphy was sought after coming out, and we all know about Manning’s high-profile recruitment coming out. Either way, this is a good problem to have for Texas, as this team is rising.
Let’s discuss what it would conceivably take for Manning or Murphy to potentially usurp Ewers on the Longhorns quarterbacking depth chart.
Steve Sarkisian will allow Texas quarterbacks to compete with Quinn Ewers
Sarkisian put it eloquently that, right now, he does not have to submit a depth chart so to speak. He was thrilled that Murphy got to take part in his first spring practice. Admittedly, he is a distant third in terms of notoriety within the program, but the best player will play. As for Manning, he completed less than 40 percent of his passes. This was largely expected out of a true freshman.
In terms of Ewers getting usurped at this point, that might be challenging. Murphy is probably the closest at closing the gap, but we haven’t seen him play in a big spot yet. Not to say Ewers has been outstanding in that department either, but he is clearly a top-20 Power Five quarterback at this point of his career. As for Manning, the Big 12 is a big step up from private school competition.
Overall, this is a pretty critical year for Sarkisian and the Longhorns program. They made great strides a season ago in year two in Austin, but Texas needs to push for a Big 12 conference title one last time. They were a top-four team in the league a season ago, but they have to be better than an 8-4 team for Sarkisian to not feel major pressure heading into 2024 with the SEC jump.
Ultimately, the best player will play. For now, that clearly seems to be Ewers. What I think spring practice may be more indicative of than anything is Murphy could be QB2 in Austin if he decides not to transfer. Manning will eventually get his shot, but Sarkisian is not going to feed Baby Huey to the wolves in September. He has an incredible amount of talent, but production is everything.
Sarkisian is absolutely right in allowing Manning and Murphy to keep pushing Ewers at Texas.
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