Urban Meyer credits Steve Sarkisian in recruitment of Arch Manning

On3 imageby:Nick Kosko03/11/23

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Urban Meyer gave a big tip of the cap to Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian for landing top recruit Arch Manning.

The new Texas quarterback will likely compete for the starting gig with Quinn Ewers as a true freshman, but the latter has the edge due to experience in 2022. Meyer gave Sarkisian props for being able have two No. 1 quarterbacks on the same roster but wondered how the roster balance would end up this fall.

He discussed it on Urban’s Take with Tim May.

“I think first of all it’s a great job recruiting how we convinced Arch Manning to get there because Quinn Ewers is there,” Meyer said. “I mean he was the No. 1 player in the country for a reason. He is so talented and if stays healthy, I really believe they beat Alabama and it’s a completely different season for Texas. He also showed inconsistency. There was talent but it was inconsistent. I’m gonna go back to say what makes a great quarterback Tim? Great receivers. And I didn’t see the separation, I didn’t see the attack. They’re talented guys, but the minute those receivers become part of that quarterback’s life and they protect him, that quarterback’s gonna have a break.

“Here, so I got good news and bad news for Texas. Good news is they got two extremely talented players. The bad news is once you name a starter, and they’re both young, I don’t know how long they stick around. I guess maybe Quinn Ewers, this is his third year of college coming up. So maybe that was part of the recruiting. I know he’s young, but he could start for one year, leave and then Arch takes over.”

As a member of the Class of 2023, Manning was a five-star recruit out of New Orleans (La.) Isidore Newman, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 1 overall prospect in the class, nationwide.

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“There’s growing pains,” Sarkisian said of Manning earlier this month, via Inside Texas. “We make a big deal out of the guy losing his ID twice the first couple of weeks of school. He’s a freshman in college, but he does take it serious and he wants to be really good.”