Steve Sarkisian praises Arch Manning for how he responded to interception vs. ULM

Arch Manning made his first career collegiate start this weekend in place of an injured Quinn Ewers. Helping lead top tanked Texas to a 51-3 win over Louisiana-Monroe while also battling some adversity in the process.

The former five-star prospect threw his first career interception during the first drive of Saturday’s game, followed by a second interception heading into halftime on a pass that bounced off the hands of his intended pass catcher. But his head coach, Steve Sarkisian, was impressed with how the redshirt freshman showed resiliency when he took center stage.

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“One thing that he did really well Saturday… A year ago after that pick, that might have taken a minute for him to rebound from. I thought he responded really well mentally,” Sarkisian said during his press conference. “I thought his poise and composure was really good Saturday. Even after the pick at the end of the first half, to come back in the second half and play the way he did in the third quarter I thought was impressive for me from a maturity standpoint of how far that he’s grown.”

Aside from his two interceptions, Manning ended the day with 258 passing yards and two touchdowns. Showing plenty of confidence in throwing the ball downfield with numerous passes that had Texas fans excited for the future with Manning at the helm of the offense.

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“Arch believes in his ability, and so he’s going to try to take some of these shots, and we reaped the benefits of it. I just rattled off four plays of guys making down the field,” Sarkisian explained. “As he continues to grow, he’s going to learn the value of some of those explosive plays on the perimeter on check downs. He got one to Ryan Niblett, some different things, but I think there’s gonna be some other throws for him out there.”

Manning burst onto the scene in relief of Ewers last week after going down abdominal injury in the second quarter against UTSA. Stepping in and excelling with 223 yards and four touchdown passes, along with a 67-yard touchdown run.

But the rising star now having faced the highs and lows of a college football game makes him more battle-tested for his biggest game yet. Potentially starting this weekend with Ewers tabbed as questionable against Mississippi State for the Longhorns’ first SEC matchup as new members of the conference.

“But I’ve just been impressed, for me, for a guy early on in his career the way he rebounded. And I’ve seen a lot of young quarterbacks have a rough start and then that rough start turns into a rough game. It was a little bit of a rough start for him, but I thought he rebounded and did some nice things for us,” Sarkisian concluded.