Colt McCoy bullish on present, future of Texas QB room with Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning

As spring practices around America wrap up and teams transition into the summer phase of the offseason, few teams are better situated at quarterback than Texas. They’ve got the quarterback of the present in Quinn Ewers, and the heir-apparent in Arch Manning.

And Longhorn legend Colt McCoy shared on The Paul Finebaum Show on Thursday that he’s quite excited to see what both players can do in the coming years. He’s particularly pleased with the situation that Manning has carved out to develop before taking over as the starter, presumably ahead of the 2025 season.

“I think they have a great room. I think me and everyone else is excited about Arch. I’m not sure if he could be in a better situation,” McCoy said.

Much of that optimism stems from the developments that Ewers has shown since becoming the starter at Texas.

From 2022 to 2023, Ewers improved his completion percentage by nearly 11 points, connecting on 69% of passes last season. He threw 22 touchdowns to 15 in his debut season, but did throw six interceptions both seasons. But Ewers also passed at a significantly higher volume in 2023, attempting nearly 100 more passes than in 2022 and throwing for 3479 yards. He’d thrown for just 2177 in 2022.

And Texas, of course, made the College Football Playoff in 2023.

McCoy also made sure to portion out a decent bit of credit to head coach Steve Sarkisian for the healthy quarterback ecosystem, too.

If another stride is in store for Ewers and Manning can be on a similar arc — perhaps with a better starting point — McCoy is waiting on the edge of his seat to watch.

“Quinn has made big jumps from his first year to his second year,” McCoy said. “I’m sure he’ll make another jump this year. He’s playing at a really high level. I think Sark has — Sark’s offense, everybody has a feel for it. And that starts with the quarterback. And to have a guy who’s played two years under his belt and now transitioning into the SEC, I think that quarterback room is ready for it. I think they’re excited. I haven’t been able to make it back to spring ball much, but I’ve heard that it was a great spring. I think that the culture that coach Sark has been able to build over the last few years, I think everybody’s in a really good position.”