NCAAF News: Steve Sarkisian sends important advice to Arch Manning’s potential backups at Texas

A new College Football season is about to begin, bringing with it the hopes of several programs aiming for big results — including the Texas Longhorns. By now, it was widely expected that Arch Manning would be the starting quarterback, but the spotlight has since shifted to the ongoing debate over who will serve as Steve Sarkisian’s primary backup under center.

As of now, three names are in contention for the role of primary backup in case Manning is unable to stay on the field: Matthew Caldwell, KJ Lacey, and Trey Owens. According to the HC, all three are currently on equal footing and have the same chance to earn the spot.

In a recent conversation with the media, Sarkisian shared how he’s approaching the process of determining who will ultimately be Manning’s primary backup — a task that appears to be anything but simple.

“I think all the guys are doing good things,” he said. “One of the challenges as a backup, especially when there’s three of you battling for it, I can only give so many reps so many ways. We’re trying to kind of rolodex them through with the twos and the threes. Even spotting them with the ones at times. I’m trying to see who can play consistent football.“

Trey Owens passes the ball.

“I think things are starting to shape themselves out, we’ll see,” Sarkisian also added. “There’s another week to evaluate. Clearly, as we get into next week, we’ll have a pretty good idea, in our minds, if we need to go to a backup, what we would do, and how that would play out.”

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Is Manning better than Burrow?

The excitement surrounding what Arch Manning can bring as the new starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns is growing rapidly. In fact, many have already begun drawing comparisons to former LSU star Joe Burrow — including Burrow’s own former head coach, Ed Orgeron.

“I had an opportunity to go to Texas and speak at the clinic and I watched practice,” Orgeron said. “Now, I knew Arch Manning as a young kid from Louisiana. He liked Joe Brady, we watched him. But I watched his practice and I’ll say this conservatively… Arch is as close to, or maybe as good, as Joe (Burrow) as I’ve seen. I’ve never said that about anyone.”

While it’s still far too early to make a definitive assessment of what Manning will bring to Sarkisian’s team, there’s no denying that his previously showcased talent has the entire city of Austin hopeful for big things moving forward.