Joel Klatt believes Quinn Ewers' leash is short with Arch Manning lurking in Texas QB room

Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium is set to make history on Saturday, hosting its first-ever College Football Playoff game. Texas will play host to Clemson, with the winner earning a spot in the quarterfinals to face Arizona State. Of the multiple pregame discussion points, Steve Sarkisian‘s quarterback is certainly one of them.

Quinn Ewers has been the guy for Texas all season but Arch Manning has been lurking in the background. Many outside the program have called for Manning to be the starter and while FOX’s Joel Klatt is not there, he believes the leash for Ewers is “pretty short.”

And if things were to start going sideways against Clemson — or potentially further down the road — Sarkisian would make a move to Manning, mirroring what Nick Saban did back in 2017.

“There’s a little bit of an element — Remember the Tua (Tagovailoa), Jalen Hurts Alabama team?” Klatt asked. “Remember Nick Saban? He was toying around with ‘Are we going to be better with Tua to throw the football rather than Jalen in there?’ And then when he had to have it against Georgia in the national championship game, he pulled the trigger. I just wonder to myself, if they (Texas) were struggling, how short is that leash on Quinn Ewers? I think it would be pretty short.”

Sarkisian has found a role for Manning the past two games. Quarterback runs were called for the second-year player against Texas A&M and Georgia in the SEC Championship. More success was found in College Station, getting in for a touchdown on a critical fourth down.

But Manning has not replaced Ewers on a full-time basis since the Georgia game back in October. A switch back to Ewers was quickly made out of the halftime locker room and it’s been his ship ever since. Although, it has been rocky at times.

“With Ewers in there, they have certainly regressed offensively,” Klatt said. “In fact, four of their last seven games, they’ve scored 20 points or less. That’s not what you would expect from a Steve Sarkisian offense.”

Texas will be hoping there is no reason to put Manning into the game other than preplanned reasons. Playing one final time in front of the home fans, Ewers has a chance to go out with a real bang. Or, in Klatt’s estimation, potentially watch Manning take over in a ‘Gotta have it’ situation.