Texas should think twice about pushing Quinn Ewers out for Arch Manning

Texas probably shouldn’t push out Quinn Ewers for Arch Manning. Not that Manning doesn’t deserve to be a starting quarterback, but what happens when Ewers joins an SEC foe and torches the Longhorns next season? 

Or even worse, what if Manning doesn’t quite look like what they want him to be? What if he’s a better backup quarterback than he is a starter? Texas should look to its Red River rival for evidence of why pulling the plug on their proven quarterback could be problematic next season. 

Texas should think twice about pushing Quinn Ewers out for Arch Manning

When Dillon Gabriel departed Oklahoma for Oregon, he went from missing the College Football Playoff to being a favorite to win it. In the process, he’s also thrown himself into a loaded Heisman Trophy conversation. 

It’s a real possibility Ewers departs to another program and is the missing piece to get them over the hump. If Ewers enters the transfer portal his phone would blow up from all the calls he’s going to be getting to lure him to a prospective program.

And he could very well pull a Dillon Gabriel and prove why it was a mistake to force him out. I’m sure when Texas got Arch Manning they were planning for Ewers to enter the draft. So with that philosophy, it made sense to usher Manning in as the incumbent. 

But with Ewers’ draft stock falling to the wayside, it wouldn’t benefit him to leave now. And now that Texas is sending subliminal signs that they’re ready to turn to Manning, it could come back to haunt them.

Oklahoma turned to Jackson Arnold and that was a mistake. At one point, Arnold was benched this season for a true freshman to replace him. That’s not quite what the Sooners envisioned when they groomed him to replace Gabriel. 

Texas could have that same fate. Arnold, too, was a five-star prospect in high school like Manning. For what it’s worth, Manning is better than Arnold, at least he’s shown more potential. But there’s still the chance he’s not better than what Ewers would have been.