Matthew Caldwell and Trey Owens headline a brewing QB2 battle in Austin

The battle for the No. 2 quarterback on a college football team used to be one of the least complicated discussions for a head coach of a program.

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Simply put, whatever quarterback was a class younger than the starter usually had the role locked up. They’d been in the program the longest among the rest of their co-QBs and usually had the best grip on the offense. It was rare to see any jumping of spots unless you were dealing with the elite of the elite at the position.

But in this new era of quarterbacking, the average team has to make a much more conscious choice about who backs up their QB. Teams like Alabama and LSU have highly talented younger transfers, while programs like Penn State and Notre Dame have had backups poached from the transfer portal.

Heading into the offseason, it looked like the Longhorns would take the old-fashioned route. Arch Manning would be the starter with Class of 2024 four-star Trey Owens behind him.

But there were obvious reasons to be a bit concerned about Owens as a potentially important player for a national championship contender. He is entering just his second year in college football, has only completed two passes in his career, and has a skill set that meshes differently with the scheme than that of Manning or true freshman K.J. Lacey, both of whom are more mobile in and out of the pocket.

With this in mind, Texas brought in former Troy starting quarterback Matthew Caldwell, a 6’4″ QB with decent legs who completed 141 passes for 1,608 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2024 for the Trojans. Caldwell was far from a Sun Belt star, but his addition gave Texas options for its second QB.

“Prior to adding Matthew (Caldwell), we were a very young quarterback room,” QB coach AJ Milwee said. “Matthew brought in this level of maturity. A guy that’s played in real college football games, has played in very meaningful snaps. So I think that’s been very beneficial. And you’ve seen it throughout the summer. You’ve seen his maturity.”

Caldwell’s experience is one of the main catalysts for his claim at the QB2 job. Caldwell has started at Iowa and Memphis and won three of his last four games with the Trojans, turning a disaster season into one that could be built upon heading forward. Evidently, that building block took him to the SEC.

So as fall camp starts, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will have his eyes on the spot behind Manning. Will it be the experienced Caldwell, or the talented Owens, just in his second year of college? For Sarkisian, a few factors stand out when deciding on who QB2 will be.

“One, do they know what to do, and that kind of comes from, is the ball going where it’s supposed to go?” Sarkisian said. “Two, are they throwing it with some accuracy? Not every throw is going to be perfect, but there’s some accuracy there. And then three, probably one of the bigger things I look for is, how do they respond to negative plays? How do they respond to a poor throw? How do they respond to a poor read or a bobbled snap or an interception? Because that’s as close as I can get them to real football.”

In the case of a backup needing to replace Manning, Texas’ win conditions would no longer come from the quarterback. The new job of the QB is to keep the ball in Texas’ hands, hit open receivers, and have the ability to bounce back when problems do arise. Gunner Stockton exemplified that perfectly against Texas last season.

While QB2 often falls through the cracks in terms of importance during the offseason, it’s a position that has to be planned for. Caldwell and Owens are in a battle, and no singular player will be chosen until we get really near the season. Scrimmages and cohesion with receivers will be extremely important for the two.

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For now, Caldwell needs to get acclimated with the rest of the team, and also find his own jersey number. It’s getting too hard to tell who’s who when Joe Tatum also wears No. 18 at practice.