Joel Klatt defends Steve Sarkisian's 'defensive' response to Arch Manning wincing question

When asked about Arch Manning apparently wincing while throwing last week, Steve Sarkisian made headlines for his response to the question. The Texas head coach made it clear there wasn’t any issue and said, “I’ve never filmed any of you guys when you’re using the restroom.”

As he listened to the response, FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt saw a coach defending his quarterback. After an offseason filled with high expectations, he defended Sarkisian for shooting down any concern about Manning.

Speaking on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Klatt acknowledged the wincing from Manning that appeared in videos from Saturday’s win over San Jose State. But he also doesn’t have any concern and called out the speculation around any potential injury. Klatt argued Sarkisian sees it, as well, and did all he could to shut it down.

“I think that what you saw there was Sark being protective,” Klatt said. “I think that what you see is a culmination of an offseason of pressure and expectation being heaped on a guy that hadn’t really been a full-time starter yet. And his coach is trying to defend him. I think he got defensive, and he’s trying to defend his player and this kid – who is still a kid and is still young in his career and trying to develop.

“Your point about wincing, I agree with. Now, I think what makes it more worrisome is that he’s wincing while not throwing the football very accurately and there’s speculation of, ‘Why is his arm angle down and what’s going on? Is he hurt?’ So there’s wild speculation and I think that Sark sees that.”

Joel Klatt: ‘I actually liked it as a former QB’

In his question, Colin Cowherd wondered about the amount of pressure around Steve Sarkisian and Arch Manning at Texas. The former top recruit faced high expectations for 2025 as he took over as the Longhorns’ full-time starting quarterback, but got off to a disappointing start in Week 1 against Ohio State.

Joel Klatt acknowledged that pressure, which added to his defense of Sarkisian. From a quarterback’s standpoint, he thinks Manning appreciated his coach standing up for him so strongly, given the outside noise.

“To your point about pressure-cooker, it’s certainly a pressurized place to coach and, more specifically, play,” Klatt said. “I would make the argument that the two hardest positions to play in college football are quarterback at Texas and quarterback at Ohio State. Arch is in that, and then you throw his last name and the expectations, and I think you see the defensiveness of a coach trying to defend a quarterback that is not reaching the expectations that have been shoveled on him from the outside whether he liked it or not.

“Whether you liked the answer or not, I like it if I’m Arch. And I think that’s the point. The point wasn’t for the reporter. It wasn’t for anyone else other than Arch. It was basically like saying, ‘Hey, kid, I’ve got your back no matter what. And we’re going to do this together.’ So for that purpose, I actually liked it as a former quarterback. If my coach would’ve said something like that and [took] the head off a reporter, I would be like, ‘Alright, now I’ve got a guy in the foxhole with me.’ So from Arch’s perspective, I’m sure he appreciated it.”