How Texas' Quinn Ewers-Arch Manning dynamic compares to Jalen Hurts-Tua Tagovailoa in 2017
The Texas Longhorns enter their first season in the SEC with one of, if not the most talented quarterback rooms in the conference highlighted by Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning.
Ewers will enter his third season as the Longhorns’ starter after leading Texas to a Big 12 Championship win and a College Football Playoff birth. But with the highly touted backup behind him with a notable name on the back of his jersey, many are wondering if Manning could potentially work himself into the fold.
Texas’ quarterback situation reminds On3’s Andy Staples of the 2017 Alabama quarterback room that featured Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa. A well-documented moment in recent history where Tagovailoa eventually usurped Hurts for the starting job in the second half of a national championship game and the subsequent season. With that in mind, Staples asked On3’s Jesse Simonton if the Longhorns’ head coach Steve Sarkisian potentially has a similar situation at quarterback this season on his hands.
“I think we’re going to find out,” Simonton said. “If Texas loses a game, Sark just got rewarded with a huge contract extension. First 10-win season, now he’s a 10 million dollar head coach. Texas is probably one of the two or three best teams in the country next year with everything they have even around the quarterback.”
“So if there’s any slippage there, we’ve also just seen Quinn get hurt. Quinn’s been a guy who’s been dinged up throughout his career so could there be a Wally Pipp situation where he misses a couple games and then Arch is so dang good that he’s not gonna see the spot?” Simonton asked.
Ewers has started in 22 games during his two seasons at Texas, tied for seventh all-time in program history with 37 career passing touchdowns while also ranking eighth all-time with 5,656 career passing yards. He earned an All-Big 12 Second Team selection last season along with the MVP award of the conference title game after completing 76.1% of his passes for for 452 yards and four touchdowns.
But could yet another injury or any steps in the wrong direction by Ewers give Manning the golden opportunity he would need to take over the starting job?
“We know that Quinn’s the guy, Sark has backed him through and through. Arch Manning has been the ultimate teammate, said he’s going to wait his turn,” Simonton said. “But that’s not to say that we could not see a Nick Saban-type where hey, we gotta hand the keys to a younger guy because we see what he could do that maybe you can’t or again, Quinn’s been hurt in both of his seasons as Texas’ starter. What happens if he just can’t stay healthy and Arch is like hey, I’m not gonna give this job up?”
History tends to repeat itself, and it will surely be interesting to see how Sarkisian and the Longhorns continue to manage the fascinating Ewers-Manning dynamic moving forward.