A lengthy preparation process guided Arch Manning to success versus UTSA

Four passing touchdowns and a 67-yard scoring scamper don’t just happen on accident. Even if you are Arch Manning. Outcomes like that require preparation, and it was obvious Manning was well-prepared on Saturday night.

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Manning, the most popular backup quarterback in all of football, stepped into a featured role on Saturday during the No. 2 Longhorns’ 56-7 drubbing of UTSA. Manning was a scorching 9-for-12 for 223 yards and four touchdowns. He also added a 67-yard rushing touchdown, just for good measure.

Talent is something Manning has in spades, but talent alone isn’t enough to succeed in Steve Sarkisian‘s offense, let alone in high-level college football. Texas made sure to prepare Manning for extended game action since the spring, as his extended and efficient Orange-White Game outing shows. Some of that had to do with a desire to play the scion of America’s first football family more during the 2024 season, but it also had to do with an understanding that Quinn Ewers carries an injury history. Manning needed to be prepared no matter what.

“When we went into spring ball, we thought Quinn is the starter but we’ve got to make sure Arch is ready to play,” Sarkisian said postgame. “You never know when that can happen.”

It happened on Saturday. Ewers left with what Sarkisian described as both an oblique strain and an abdomen strain during his postgame press conference. So Manning not only tapped into his game experience from 2023, but also to lessons learned from his exciting Spring Game performance, preseason camp, and the week of practice leading into the matchup with the Roadrunners.

He learned new lessons, too.

“There’s nothing like being in the game and playing, and playing in front of 105,000 is not the easiest thing to do,” Sarkisian said. “I was really proud of Arch and what he was able to do.”

The actual 101,892 in attendance roared for Manning often on Saturday. His third play was that 67-yard touchdown run where he appeared to look back at the UTSA defense. Manning made sure to note that was not a taunt postgame.

He found DeAndre Moore, Isaiah Bond, Ryan Wingo, and Johntay Cook for touchdown passes. Nothing looked uncomfortable for Manning. There’s credit due to the coaches, but credit due to Manning as well.

“What we try to do is really identify the things that each quarterback does well,” Sarkisian said. “Sometimes we prioritize different plays predicated on the quarterback. We ask them a lot of questions. Every Friday night, we sit with the quarterbacks and we go through the call sheet with them. We have them pick their favorite plays by situation, whether it’s base game plan, third down, red area. We mark those down so that if the backup goes in like Arch, we knew the plays that he picked that he liked going into this game plan.”

Would Saturday have been something Manning could put together last year? He laughed when asked and said no way. But last year, Manning might not have known the level of preparation needed to succeed in the Longhorn football program.

“That’s what they’ve been trying to tell me along, just prepare like I’m the starter every week,” Manning said. “I think we have some good guys that lay out a good gameplan whether it’s Sark, (AJ) Milwee, or Mike Bimonte. They’re all studs. I can’t thank them enough.”

Sarkisian believed there was an added level of explosiveness on Saturday. Texas had 12 pass plays that went for 15 or more yards, including a 75-yard touchdown pass to Wingo in the third quarter. There were also seven run plays of 10-plus yards, with Manning’s scamper the longest of them all.

That’s an indication the entire playbook was available to Sarkisian, but he made sure to call the things Manning could execute best and has shown he has the ability to make work in practice.

“When our twos practice, we don’t shrink the playbook and play super conservative,” Sarkisian said. “We practice the toughest stuff we have because we never know when one of those guys have to go in. It could be a lineman, a runner, or a quarterback. Because of that, in practice, we expose him to so much that I don’t feel like I’m handcuffed because Arch is in the game. I feel like he’s been running all these plays all week long. We’ve identified some of the things we think he does well, he said he does well, so we just went and played offensive football.”

Manning echoed those sentiments postgame.

“Coach Milwee instills that I’ve got to prepare and be ready every week for when my number is called, and help my team win games,” Manning said. “Obviously, there’s a lot to improve on and grow from, but I’m glad I got to get in there, get hit again, and feel what it’s like.”

It remains to be seen if Manning will need to prepare like a starter to actually start for the Longhorns, as Sarkisian did not give a specific timeframe for Ewers’ return. However, he doesn’t plan to change his process even with uncertainty clouding Ewers’ future.

“I think you have to just stay ready on the sideline, whether it’s staying loose or being mentally focused in the game,” Manning said. “At any particular moment, your name can get called.”

There’s a lot of popularity surrounding Manning. He was asked about Ewers’ jokes about backups during the Dr. Pepper Fansville commercials, and made sure to note Ewers told him that was coming. He said it with a smile, too.

But there’s also a normal, second-year college student there wearing No. 16. One who is really good at throwing the football and who prepares to succeed at a high level in his head coach’s eye. That player put all his skills on full display Saturday night, and he’ll have additional opportunities to do so during the Longhorns’ 2024 season thanks to his work done to be at his best on Saturdays.

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“He’s just a normal guy that plays quarterback at the University of Texas,” Sarkisian said. “The name on the back of his jersey is one thing, but who he is as a teammate I think is another. He just wants to play really good for all the guys around him. If he goes in there, he wants to make sure we keep moving the football because they’re all counting on him to do that.”