Steve Sarkisian Officially Names Arch Manning Starter vs. ULM

Arch Manning has earned his first start for the Texas Longhorns

5 Takeaways from Texas Longhorns win over UTSA /

AUSTIN - Arch Manning is officially the Texas Longhorns starting quarterback.

At least in Week 4.

According to Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, Manning will draw the first start of his Texas Longhorns career this Saturday vs. the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks in Austin.

"Arch is going to start at quarterback this Saturday," Sarkisian said. "I feel like Quinn (Ewers) has made great strides ever since Saturday night into where he's gotten to. ... Arch is more than capable, as I think we all know. He's got a lot of confidence from his teammates to go out there and play."

Manning, of course, is making his start in place of the injured Quinn Ewers, who suffered an abdominal strain in the team's 56-7 blowout win over the UTSA Roadrunners last weekend.

The red-shirt freshman would go on to put on a spectacle for the Longhorns fans in attendance that night, completing 9 of 12 passes for 223 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing for a 67-yard touchdown.

The performance not only earned Manning Co-SEC Freshman of the Week honors, but like clockwork, it also stirred up a national conversation about whether or not Manning should be the starter going forward for the rest of the season.

And while that kind of distraction might be an issue for most teams, the culture in the Texas program that has been developed by Steve Sarkisian remains unaffected by the national noise.

"I don’t do anything. Arch is just another guy on our team," Sarkisian said Monday. "The reason I’m able to do that is because that’s who Arch is every day. He’s a selfless teammate. He cares about the guys on the team. He cares about Quinn. They've got a great relationship. He works his tail off. He wants to play good football for them because he knows how hard everybody's working."

Of course, the plan for the Longhorns will be to give the reigns of the offense back to Ewers once he is healthy.

Ewers is currently considered week-to-week.

Fortunately, they should have plenty of time for him to heal up as well, with an overmatched ULM coming to town on Saturday, followed by a Mississippi State team that was just blown out by the Toledo Rockets on their own field.

After that, the Horns will get a bye week, giving Ewers nearly a month of recovery time in total before Texas travels to Dallas to take the Oklahoma Sooners.

Either way, with this Saturday officially set to be 'The Manning Show' all eyes will be Austin.

Kick off is set for 7 pm on SEC Network+.