Steve Spurrier defends viral Arch Manning comments: 'I wasn't trying to criticize anybody'

Former Florida coach Steve Spurrier has never been shy in front of a microphone. And some comments he made last week about Texas quarterback Arch Manning went viral nationally.

Spurrier questioned why Manning didn’t play more when Quinn Ewers was struggling, essentially. On Monday, he rejoined Pat Dooley of Another Dooley Noted Podcast to clarify his comments.

He was surprised they went so viral. He began:

“That’s what I heard. I heard that went national when I was talking about Texas quarterbacks of the last two years,” Spurrier said. “I wasn’t trying to criticize anybody. But it’s just a different viewpoint than I had as a coach.”

Spurrier would go on to outline that he played multiple quarterbacks several times throughout his career. He had a quicker trigger on a change than most coaches.

And that’s essentially the only point he was trying to make last week. He further elaborated.

“So all I’m trying to say is this: When I coached, if one guy’s struggling and I had another guy just as good, man, he’s in the game,” Spurrier said. “And if he’s really continuing playing well he’ll stay in. If not we’ll go back to the other guy. It’s sort of like baseball. If your starting pitcher, who’s your best, is having a terrible day, can’t throw it over the plate, you get the next guy to go in there. But for some reason in football a lot of people don’t like to substitute.”

Spurrier went on to relay a story of a left tackle he had once that got in after the starter was struggling. That tackle told him that he was incredibly thankful for Spurrier, because he might not have ever seen the field under the previous staff.

Stories like that were the norm in Spurrier’s coaching career. That applied to quarterbacks just as much as any other position.

“That’s just my philosophy. I’m not telling Sark what to do,” Spurrier said. “If DJ Lagway doesn’t win the Heisman, I hope Arch Manning wins it. They’re both capable. It just depends on which team maybe has a super year. But I’m trying to say if Arch was better than the other guy how come he didn’t play? That’s all I was trying to say.”