Steve Sarkisian is no dummy: Texas doesn't have a quarterback controversy, not yet at least
All it took was an Adam Schefter tweet for the Internet to run ablaze and hype up a Golden Boy Battle X2 at Texas.
Quinn Ewers versus Arch Manning. Former No. 1 overall prospect against former No. 1 overall prospect for the Longhorns’ starting quarterback job in 2023.
Let’s pump the brakes a bit here, folks.
Perhaps Texas is in store for the most discussed and dissected quarterback competition in college football history, but let’s take a look at exactly what head coach Steve Sarkisian said when asked about Ewers v. Manning following Texas’ first spring practice Monday.
“I’m not worried about who’s going to be on the cover of what magazine next week,” Sarkisian said.
“I’m more focused on is, is each guy focusing on what they need to do to develop to be the best player that they can be? Quinn has an entire year of a head start, but I don’t want to hold Arch back. I want to see how far he can take this thing and what it can look like.”
For any seasoned college football fan or media member, it’s not difficult to discern the message Sarkisian is sending here: Competition breeds success.
That’s not so much an advertisement that all jobs are open. It’s a tried-and-true approach most coaches use in spring practice as a way for the 2s to push the 1s, and the 3s to push the 2s, and so on.
The whole point of the 15 practices in March or April is about development and competition.
So is Texas’ quarterback job open? Technically, yes, all jobs are right now.
Sarkisian said it himself: Quinn Ewers, who had an up-and-down freshman season at Texas in 2022, has a year head start. He’s familiar with the system. He has a rapport with a young offensive line and several perimeter playmakers.
The mullet may be gone, but Ewers still has a rocket arm and a certain moxie that made him one of the most high-profile recruits ever … before Arch Manning.
Steve Sarkisian sees offseason growth in Quinn Ewers
Ewers struggled with accuracy and decision-making at times last fall, finishing the season with 2,177 yards, 15 touchdowns and six picks. He battled a variety of nagging injuries but finished the season strong with a 369-yard, one-touchdown, no-picks performance in Texas’ bowl game.
Sarkisian wants the passing game to show improvements this spring, and he believes it will. He was asked a silly question about Ewers’ decision to ditch the trademark mullet and grimy beard — both of which he profited off of via NIL — but Texas’ head coach said the second-year quarterback has become a more vocal and mature leader this offseason.
“All of a sudden, now the guy gets a haircut and cleans his beard up a little bit and everyone thinks Quinn’s real serious right now,” Sarkisian said. “But that’s human nature. It’s never been a question of him taking this seriously. He wants to be really good. He wants to be a leader on this team. He wants to win a championship with these guys. And that doesn’t change what he does day to day, but appearance is what it is. And so I do think him recognizing that shows some maturity.”
Ewers had plenty of growing pains in 2022, but his growth this offseason has been evident to his head coach. He knows Texas’ playbook better. He’s healthy and has refined his mechanics. He’s becoming more comfortable in his role on the team, too.
“He was essentially a true freshman this time last year. It’s like when the gears are moving but there’s no WD-40 in there,” Sarkisian said of Ewers.
“Those gears were grinding, and it felt that way for him pretty much all year long. This winter, it just feels natural. He’s throwing the ball well. He’s emerging as a leader. I’m watching him break the team down, do those things.
“I think what he’s done, he’s serving for Arch and said, ‘Hey, this is what it looks like. And this is how to go about your business.'”
Thus far, Arch Manning has lost more student IDs than participated in Texas’ spring practices.
A member of college football royalty family, Manning — Cooper’s son and Peyton and Eli’s nephew and Archie’s grandson — looked good in a blood orange helmet and black Nike jersey.
His first college practice came with mixed results, per observers on the ground. His delivery was smooth and his arm every bit as advertised. But he made some usual freshman mistakes — just like Ewers did this time last spring.
“For Arch today, Day 1, there’s some plays for sure that he would love to have back,” Sarkisian said.
“There’s some other plays that he made where I think everybody was like, ‘Wow, that was a heck of a play.’ But he brings a worker’s mentality and he wants to be really good at this game.”
Perhaps Arch Manning does make so many, ‘Wow’ plays over the next six weeks that Sarkisian’s hand is forced, and Texas truly will have an open quarterback derby unlike we’ve ever seen.
But what if Ewers does, too?
Sarkisian has played this exactly right for now.
2023 is a big year for Texas. For Sarkisian. And for Ewers.
The Longhorns will be the Big 12 favorites in their final season in the conference. They return a loaded group of wideouts, one of the nation’s best offensive lines and a competent defense with future NFL Draft picks at DL and linebacker. Sarkisian is just 13-12 in two seasons in Austin, though, and despite coaching at Washington, USC and Texas, he’s never won 10 games in a single season. Not once.
In a perfect world, Texas is ‘BACK’ this fall, with Ewers leading the Longhorns to double-digit wins and a conference championship before bouncing for the NFL Draft. The baton is then handed to Arch Manning in 2024, and the Longhorns enter the SEC with a runway of momentum.
Maybe it will play out differently. Perfect scenarios rarely happen. But for now, as Sarkisian said himself, “competition should ultimately drive the best out of both of them.”
“The beauty of it, one of the guys he’s competing with is taking it really seriously and wants to be really good,” Sarkisian said of Ewers v. Manning.
“That competition should ultimately drive the best out of both of them. That’s what we’re trying to create in our program at every position group because when you have that, that’s when your level of play continually goes up and up and up. You recruit well, you have a competitive environment, and they all get better along the way.”