Steve Sarkisian: Texas coaches have discussed playing Arch Manning vs. BYU, no decision made

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian decided to start Maalik Murphy over Arch Manning against BYU. This comes in the wake of an injury to starting quarterback Quinn Ewers.

Despite that, there still seems to be a chance that Arch Manning sees the field against the Cougars. Sarkisian explained that the coaches have discussed the idea of playing him but want to make sure that everything they do is in the best interest of the team.

“I haven’t made a decision if I want to get Arch in there just to get him in there or not, but we have discussed that some,” Steve Sarkisian said. “Because I do think there’s some valuable experience for him in that, but I have to make sure that’s in the best interest of the team, and I have to make sure that the team comes first in everything that we do, but I do see the value in something like that. I’m just not ready to make that call, yet.”

To this point in the season, Manning has not played and the assumption has been that he will be taking a redshirt season. If he plays against BYU, it would be one of four games he could play in before burning that redshirt.

Arch Manning was one of the most highly-anticipated recruits in modern recruiting history. The son of Cooper Manning, his uncles and grandfather all played quarterback in the SEC and later the NFL. According to the On3 Industry Rankings, Manning was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023. He was the top-ranked quarterback and player overall in that class.

Ultimately, Manning chose to go to Texas and play for Steve Sarkisian over Georgia, Alabama, and Ole Miss, among others.

Despite not yet playing in a college football game, Arch Manning has a massive On3 NIL Valuation of $2.8 million. That’s a number that is determined by a player’s performance, influence, and exposure. Amid the On3 NIL 100, Manning is the fourth-ranked college athlete in the country, behind only Bronny James, Shedeur Sanders, and Livvy Dunne in terms of NIL Valuation.

Steve Sarkisian describes the challenges Maalik Murphy, Arch Manning could face

Earlier in the week leading up to the BYU game, Steve Sarkisian broke down some of the challenges that Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning could face, depending on who is in the game against the Cougars.

“I think like anything, you know, we prepare as best we can. 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?” Sarkisian said.

“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. And then two, I think one thing that quarterbacks early on in their career sometimes let the easy things be easy, right? 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.”