Greg McElroy weighs in on Texas QB debate between Arch Manning, Maalik Murphy

With Quinn Ewers likely to miss some time with a shoulder injury, the question for Texas is what’s next at quarterback. Steve Sarkisian said both Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning will get first-team reps in the days leading up to Saturday’s game against BYU, but it will likely be Murphy getting the start.

As for whether Manning should start instead, ESPN’s Greg McElroy made his stance abundantly clear.

“No,” McElroy said Tuesday on College Football Live. “No, no, absolutely not. … It’s Maalik Murphy’s show. They’ve said that from the spring.”

During the spring, the question was not whether Murphy or Manning would be Texas’ QB1. That, of course, went to Ewers. They were battling it out to be QB2 behind him, and Murphy won out after a strong showing in the spring game. He completed 9 of 13 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown that day.

McElroy said Murphy would’ve likely received some interest in the transfer portal if he decided to enter. Since he stayed in Austin, though, he’ll now get his chance to come out of the bullpen in Ewers’ place as he works his way back.

But to McElroy, Texas won’t necessarily need Murphy to fill the stat sheet even though he has the ability to light it up. He’ll need to effectively manage the game because the Longhorns have so many skill players, and that will be something to watch on Saturday.

“This was a pretty hotly contested battle there in the spring to see who was going to be the backup quarterback,” McElroy said. “Will it be Maalik Murphy, or will it be the five-star blue chip that Matt Schick wants to start in Arch Manning? And it was Maalik Murphy. … He played very well in the spring game. Almost entered the transfer portal because a lot of teams were very interested in him potentially coming in and becoming their starting quarterback. Steve Sarkisian said, ‘Man, stay here. We’re going to develop you. You’re going to get an opportunity to play.’ He decided to stay.

“But this is a young man with a lot of talent and a really high ceiling. It’s just about, can he manage the game? Because they’re still going to be able to run the football with Jonathon Brooks and company. I still feel good about that part of their game. He just has to make good decisions and not turn the ball over because they’re still so much more talented than just about every team they’ll face up until they face Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game.”