Manning Family Set Record Straight on Arch vs. Quinn Ewers Theories With Pat McAfee

Many out there believe that Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning is on the fast track to the NFL, and is yearning to take over the starting job from Quinn Ewers. However, according to the Manning family, that is not the case.

Texas quarterbacks Arch Manning (16) and Quinn Ewers talk during the team's first spring practice of 2023 at the Frank Denius Fields. 2023-03-06-manning-ewers / Aaron E. Martinez / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Texas Longhorns do not have a quarterback problem.

And they never really did.

But the fact is, when he is healthy, Quinn Ewers is the starting quarterback and Arch Manning is the backup.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian said as much in his Thursday press conference, telling reporters that Ewers is 'the quarterback of that team.'

Still, national media and social media 'experts' persist in trying to push that narrative, as well as the idea that Manning is aiming to take over the starting job permanently sooner rather than later, and expedite his path to the NFL.

However, according to Pat McAfree during an episode of his radio show, the Manning, as well as his family, are not of that mindset at all, and intend on Arch being in Austin for the long haul.

“I reached out to the Manning family,” McAfee said “One of my source(s) in the Manning family said this, ‘We are old school. You never lose your job from an injury. It’ll get handled. Everybody assumes that Arch is on this fast track to the NFL. That is not true. We are in no hurry. He wants to develop. He wants to stay in Sark’s system. He decided to go there, knowing that Quinn Ewers was going to be there.’"

The noise around the media-manufactured situation only got louder when Manning exploded for five total touchdowns in relief of an injured Ewers vs. UTSA last week.

And many still continue to believe that, if Arch puts on another show vs. Louisiana Monroe, and perhaps Mississippi State the following week, the issue will only continue to get louder.

However, as McAfee sees it, that is not the case at all, and Manning is going to stick to his long-term plan.

“The way that I think the entire Mannings and Arch and everybody is going to view this, even though outside it might get loud, if Arch goes bananas is, ‘Hey, there’s been a plan. I’m completely cool with it, if Quinn Ewers comes back, and he happens to happen to miss sometime later, I’m all good.’ He’s just taking this as valuable reps for the grand scheme of this thing," McAfee said. "I think they want Arch to live a normal college football life, before all this stuff. You come for the education, come to learn the program, you get to back up. You can not play, you can watch somebody else play. You can handle it all. That’s been their mission since the beginning, and if he scores 10 touchdowns in two weeks, that’s not going to change it.”

As it stands, Ewers is week-to-week with an abdominal strain, and with two very manageable games ahead of them in ULM and Mississippi State, followed by a bye week there is no reason to rush him back.

But once he is healthy - assumedly by the Oklahoma game - he will once again take over the starting role.

Even if the noise gets loud, and Manning keeps putting on a show on the field.