Steve Sarkisian wants Arch Manning to 'get back to being the player that he wants to be'

It’s been an uneven start to the season for Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning. Amid a massive amount of hype, Manning has undergone some growing pains and then mounting criticism. Now, with SEC play about to start, his head coach, Steve Sarkisian, is hoping to see him get back to playing like the player he wants to be.

Sarkisian compared the September schedule during the weekly SEC Teleconference, in which Texas went 3-1, to the preseason. They got all of their non-conference games out of the way. Now, it’s time to focus on SEC play, or the regular season.

“I would say the way our scheduling lined up,” Steve Sarkisian said. “It was kind of like we just finished up preseason play with four non-conference games and now we’re into the regular season. Now, we’re into SEC play. We’ve got eight straight SEC ballgames. As we know, all very difficult and challenging, not only physically but mentally, and all that entails, emotionally. For Arch, it’s continuing to be him.”

To this point, Arch Manning is completing 61.3 percent of passes for 888 yards and nine touchdowns to three interceptions. He’s also rushed for 123 yards and five touchdowns. However, he struggled in the road loss to Ohio State and hasn’t been tested by three Group of Five teams since then.

“I think that’s one of the things that we’ve been harping on here is that as much as the attention swirls around him, he doesn’t have to play to that attention,” Sarkisian said. “Whether it’s positive, negative, whatever it may be, and focus on his teammates. Focus on what he needs to do to prepare. Focus on having some fun, playing football. That’s when he’s at his best, and I think at the end of it, that will serve as a real positive for him.”

There are a few reasons why there was concern about Manning. A former five-star recruit from a legendary football family, Manning is now in his third season in college but his first as the starter. He was expected to his the ground running. Instead, there have been growing pains.

“I think at the end of the day, there’s always going to be growing pains. Whether you get those growing pains early, in the middle, late, whatever. In your first season, there’s going to be growing pains and there’s going to be learning experiences. The key to the drill is to learn from those experiences and I credit Arch and I credit his teammates for the way they’ve handled that through the first month of the season. I thought those guys handled it really well, have come out on the other side of it, and then used it as a real positive to grow from. At the end, it’s kind of like I’d much rather have those growing pains early than later, and we got him.”

Now, Arch Manning can prove himself in SEC play. That will open on Saturday with a road test in The Swamp against the Florida Gators.

“Now, he can get back to being the player that he wants to be, and is capable of being, and the teammate that he wants to be, and the leader that he is,” Sarkisian said. “And the impact that has on the other guys on the team as well.”