Texas’s Steve Sarkisian Makes Definitive Call on Manning-Ewers QB Competition

The Longhorns coach made his feelings on the team’s quarterback hierarchy perfectly clear after the Texas spring game.

Although the 2023 college football season doesn’t kick until late August, some big news came out of Texas’s spring game in Austin on Saturday.

With all eyes on freshman quarterback Arch Manning, the highly touted nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, completed five of 13 passes for 30 yards in the Orange-White Game.

Meanwhile, incumbent Quinn Ewers, a sophomore who transferred to Texas from Ohio State last year, completed 16 of 23 attempts for 195 yards and a touchdown. Last season, Ewers recorded 2,177 passing yards and 15 touchdown passes in his first season in Austin.

After Saturday’s scrimmage, Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian said “it’s pretty clear to say that Quinn Ewers will be the Longhorns’ starting quarterback. And we feel very good about that.”

Welcome to DKR @ArchManning pic.twitter.com/QU7T8M82Hm

— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) April 15, 2023

Redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy, who split reps guiding the Orange team, also shined, completing nine of 13 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown.

“I don’t ever want to take the stinger of these other guys that they’re not competing for something or that they’re not striving for something because they’re all talented players,” Sarkisian said, per BurntOrangeNation. “They’re great teammates with one another, and I think they appreciate how hard each of them work, and I think we’re in a very fortunate position to have three quality guys in that room that work the way that they do.”

The Longhorns open the 2023 season on Sept. 2 at home against Rice. The following week, Texas hits the road for a highly anticipated showdown with powerhouse Alabama on Sept. 9 in Tuscaloosa.