Steve Sarkisian describes the challenges Maalik Murphy, Arch Manning could face if put into action

Steve Sarkisian won’t have Quinn Ewers but said Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning are ready to go against BYU.

The Texas Longhorns going into the weekend with some uncertainty at the most important position. As far as the challenges Murphy and Manning face, it’s not something Sarkisian hasn’t seen before.

It’s all about the preparation and the ability to adjust on the fly.

“I think like anything, you know, we prepare as best we can,” Sarkisian said. “We try to prepare our players for the multitude of things that can and or should happen and try to put them in the best position. But naturally, you know, BYU is going to do things that aren’t on tape and you have to adapt at that point and adapting, sometimes it’s when we can get them on the sidelines and adapt. Sometimes you have to adapt in play, post-snap, right? 

“The coverages may be different than they’ve been playing, the pressure’s a little different, the matchups are different. And so that ability to adapt and not just rely on practice as much as I love practice and practice is huge. Adaptability in game to some of the newness that comes at you I think is critical.”

The 5-2 BYU Cougars head to Austin to take on the No. 7 Longhorns for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff. All eyes will be on Texas to see if the team can keep pace with Oklahoma without its starting quarterback.

Since the experience level is low compared to Ewers, Murphy and Manning should just make the easy things easy, according to Sarkisian.

“And then two, I think one thing that quarterbacks early on in their career sometimes let the easy things be easy, right,” Sarkisian said. “There’s plenty of things that we do that are very quarterback friendly and allowing those things to be easy for a young quarterback is critical because there’s going to be plenty of tough plays that they’re going to have to make. 

“And so I think (those are) probably two of the biggest challenges right? Adaptability in game and then allowing the easy things to be easy are two big challenges for us as we go into the game to make sure those guys are ready for that.”

Murphy is just three-of-six passing for 40 yards and Manning has yet to throw a pass this season as a freshman.