Who is Arch Manning's backup? Steve Sarkisian says the situation is "fluid"

The Texas Longhorns did not release a depth chart at any point ahead of their season-opening game with the Ohio State Buckeyes, leaving the backup quarterback role behind Arch Manning as an unanswered question. Even Inside Texas’ Eric Nahlin had an OR between Matthew Caldwell and Trey Owens ahead of the season.

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With the season 5️⃣ days away and training camp in the books, here's @EricNahlin's projected offensive depth chart for the Longhorns pic.twitter.com/rI3lxqSksF

— Inside Texas (@InsideTexas) August 25, 2025

Steve Sarkisian was asked Wednesday on the SEC Coaches Teleconference who the backup was. Sarkisian called the situation “fluid.”

“Yeah, that’s a really fluid situation,” Sarkisian said. “It’s kind of similar to in years past in that from week to week we give those guys an opportunity to compete and evaluate to keep their competitive juices flowing. In last week’s game, it would have been Matt Caldwell (as) the first guy that would have went into the game if something had occurred there with Arch. We’ll evaluate it here towards the end of this week, then make a decision. It’s more of a weekly basis.”

During pregame warmups, Caldwell was taking the second-string snaps from backup center Connor Robertson. Owens and true freshman KJ Lacey were taking snaps from O-linemen further down the center pecking order.

Caldwell, a 6-foot-4, 209-pound senior transfer from Troy, has 1608 yards and 13 touchdowns as an FBS quarterback. Owens, a 6-foot-5, 219-pound redshirt freshman, appeared in two games last year as the third-stringer behind Quinn Ewers and Manning. He was 2-of-4 for 19 yards and logged one carry for three yards. Lacey, a true freshman from Saraland, Ala., was the No. 18 quarterback in the 2025 Rivals Industry Ranking.

The Longhorns do typically produce a depth chart for home games. What will determine the quarterback behind Manning ahead of this week’s contest versus San Jose State?

“I think there’s a lot of factors,” Sarkisian said. “Managing the team on the field, the comfort level with the gameplan. The way they perform throughout the week. Where we think they’re at physically. Where we think they’re at mentally. There’s a lot that goes into it. In the end, it’s just trying to get the guy out there that we think gives us the best opportunity to have some success.”

Other updates from Sarkisian on the teleconference

Sarkisian: “Week 2, for us, first opportunity at home at DKR, which we’re obviously very excited about the opportunity to play in front of our home crowd and our fans.” — Identifies coming out of the Ohio State game healthy, continued development of frontline and younger players, and looking for more production on offense while keeping the brand and style of defense they’ve been playing as big points for his program.

Sarkisian: “Looking forward to playing a quality football game in all three phases.”

Sarkisian on his 4th down process and philosophy: “Historically, I’ve always tended to be on the aggressive side on 4th downs. A lot of that has been, in the past, predicated on the flow of the game, how you’re playing on defense, what’s the score, what’s the situation, and do you like the things that you have up.” — Sark mentions analytics has become more involved and has shifted some people’s thoughts to become more aggressive. He also notes, “analytics has reinforced my gut in those situations. We don’t live and die by analytics. It’s a great statistic to reaffirm some of your thoughts and challenge some of your thoughts in some situations.” Sarkisian makes sure to note “it’s not reckless.”

Sarkisian on the 12-team playoff and the value of playing a team like OSU early: “I think it’s really helpful. The challenging environment, one, for our team in particular, which wasn’t returning a lot of experienced payers on the offensive side of the ball, I thought we had to grow up quickly in game.” — Sarkisian also mentions the challenging opponent in conjunction with that “gives us a real spotlight on our team in areas where we know we need improvement and we can improve upon over the next three weeks before we have to go into SEC play.”

Sarkisian says the expansion of the playoff “I do think gives you a little breathing room to be willing to play those games.”

Sarkisian: “I was honestly impressed with our line of scrimmage play.”

Sarkisian says they’re monitoring Emmett Mosley “closely.” — “If he does go Saturday, it’ll be in a limited basis.”