Colt McCoy raves about Texas QBs Maalik Murphy, Arch Manning and Quinn Ewers during Texas spring game

During the Texas spring game on Saturday a Longhorns legend joined the broadcast on the sidelines, with quarterback Colt McCoy discussing what he sees out of the team’s quarterback position.

The Longhorns have one of the most interesting groups in the country, with veteran Quinn Ewers back and the favorite to start thanks to his experience. He’ll be pushed, though, by both former four-star prospect Maalik Murphy and five-star freshman Arch Manning.

“I think it’s a competitive room and (Steve Sarkisian), if I was in high school and to have the opportunity to be at Texas is one thing, but the opportunity to play in a pro-system like Sark does is another,” McCoy said, raving about the head coach’s offensive acumen.

McCoy had considerable praise to go around during the Texas spring game.

He seemed particularly enamored with Murphy, the 6-foot-5, 235-pound prospect who took a redshirt last year as Ewers and Hudson Card battled it out.

“I was standing next to Maalik Murphy a while ago and he’s bigger than Vince Young,” McCoy said. “This guy’s a monster. He threw two dimes in a row. It should’ve been two touchdowns. And then you have a big recruit like Arch, who obviously has the pedigree. And then Quinn did a nice job last year.”

The Texas quarterbacks have been competitive all spring, with the faint beginnings of a pecking order seeming to emerge.

It appears that Ewers leads for the starting job, with Murphy a touch ahead of Manning right now to be the primary backup. Things seemed to be playing out that way in the Texas spring game, too.

But none of the players should be discouraged by where they’re at right now, McCoy said.

“As a quarterback, this is a time to learn,” he said. “I would just stay in Sark’s hip pocket, learn the system inside and out. Don’t memorize anything and actually learn the foundation of what we’re trying to do.”

Texas was up and down a bit in Year 2 for Sarkisian during the 2022 campaign, competitive in all five of its losses — all were by just one score — but finishing 8-5 on the season.

McCoy wants to see more, and he thinks the quarterbacks on the roster have the potential to get Texas there.

“Hopefully, the one thing we just haven’t done is win championships,” McCoy said. “That’s the goal and hopefully we get that done this last year in the Big 12.”