Sarkisian calls current Texas quarterback battle his toughest as a head coach
In almost two decades in college football, Steve Sarkisian has seen his fair share of quarterback battles. But on Monday, he admitted that the ongoing Texas quarterback battle between Hudson Card and Casey Thompson is the most difficult one he’s faced while leading a program.
“Probably as a head coach, this would be my toughest one,” Sarkisian said.
There have not been many occasions for him to oversee a quarterback battle as a head coach. At Washington, Sarkisian inherited Jake Locker ahead of his first season in Seattle. When Locker left for the NFL, his backup, Keith Price, quickly stepped into the starting role for the Huskies.
As a head coach at USC, Sarkisian walked into a quarterback room where Cody Kessler had a firm grip on the starting role.
But USC is home to another close quarterback battle Sarkisian identified, one from his early years as an assistant under Pete Carroll.
“When Carson Palmer got done playing at USC, we had a pretty good battle on our hands with Matt Cassel and Matt Leinart,” Sarkisian said. “Matt Cassel was a year ahead of him and a little more experienced. Matt Leinart was coming up, and that was a tough call.”
Sarkisian was outranked by Carroll and offensive coordinator Norm Chow in 2003, but the trio ultimately made the right decision. Leinart eventually led USC to back-to-back claimed national titles and won the Heisman Trophy in 2004.
This time, there is no one to outrank Sarkisian. He has repeatedly said at some point in training camp he will have to trust his “gut” and name a starter. He does not want it to be an easy decision, and according to Sarkisian, it has been a challenge for him through four days of training camp.
“This one’s a tough one because both guys, like I said, and I had a feeling this would happen, both Casey and Hudson, neither of them are making it easy,” Sarkisian said. “They’re both playing well. They’re both improving. They’re both trying to do the things we’re asking them to do, and that’s what I hoped for. I wanted them to make it hard on us and they’re doing just that.”
Sarkisian’s quarterback tale from USC could apply to Texas
During the course of his response where he retold the story of the 2003 USC quarterback battle, Sarkisian shared a detail about the player who lost the competition, Matt Cassel.
“In the end, Leinart ended up being named the starter, but we really prided ourselves on the development of Matt Cassel,” Sarkisian said. “He never started a game for us, and still got drafted in the NFL Draft by the New England Patriots and went on to have a really long career.”
Players like Cassel at high-profile programs are rarities. Most quarterbacks want playing time and will use currently available avenues to get it.
Sarkisian has repeatedly said he’ll need both players this season, no matter who wins the quarterback battle. His small detail about Cassel sounds like a message warning against an immediate departure by QB2 when Sarkisian does finally make the call on QB1.
Cover photo by Will Gallagher for Inside Texas
