A haircut, a last name, and a QB forgotten. The Texas quarterback situation is intriguing, to say the least, and Steve Sarkisian has to play it right.
The Haircut
Quinn Ewers is coming off an average season. He looked great against Alabama before his injury and when he returned he was up and down. For every solid game against Iowa State and Kansas State, there was a clunker like Oklahoma State and TCU. 15 touchdowns against 6 picks and a completion percentage below 60% won’t wow anyone.
Ewers was known for a few things heading into this spring. A cannon arm, a mullet haircut, and a kid who hasn’t sniffed expectations yet. Enter Arch Manning as serious competition and a haircut later Ewers is more serious about football than ever. Even his coach joked about it.
“I think that was one of the unfortunate things with Quinn. Quinn is a great kid. He is a great teammate and really coachable. But one thing we talked about is that your appearance or perception sometimes precedes you. You have to overcome yourself. So now the guy gets his haircut and cleans up his beard a little bit, and everyone thinks Quinn is real serious right now, Sark said. “But that is human nature, right? So I give him a lot of credit to him for recognizing what he needs to do from a developmental standpoint, but it’s never been a question of him taking this serious. He’s wanted to be good, and he’s wanted to be a leader on this team. He’s wanted to win a championship with these guys, and that does not change what he does on a day-to-day. But appearances is what it is, so I think it shows some maturity on his end.”
Sources around Austin tell me the haircut was a real discussion between Ewers and those close to him, including Sark. It wasn’t mandated by any means, but all agreed that Ewers needs to send a message. This is his breakout year, and he’s serious about it.
The Last Name
Arch Manning is a solid QB. And while my comments last summer that he’d be a 3-star without the last name were taken out of context, I stand by this — he’s a product of that last name. Sites have him No. 1 overall. They have him as a 5-star-plus whatever that is. He’s being talked about as one of the best high school QBs in recent memory.
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None of that is accurate. He’s good, and he could be great, but he’s also raw, and every time he’s stepped up in competition, he’s been bad. Yes, he plays with low level of talent, but he also plays against a low level of talent, and many of his numbers were padded by playing really bad teams.
But that last name is scary. Scary to who? Sark. He has to play this right. If Arch wins the job, Ewers is gone, and that’s okay. If he’s beaten out, he’s beaten out, and Ewers can live the Spencer Rattler life. But if Ewers keeps the job as he should, then what?
Privately I’ve heard The Mannings have said they want Arch to redshirt this season no matter what. But that means he can play four games, and if he does, Sark has to be careful. Manning can’t come in after Ewers struggles, and he can’t come in during a close game out of fear he will outplay Ewers. So he has to play in mop-up blowout situations only. Why? If he’s better than Ewers in any way, Sark will deal with a crap storm. Boosters and fans will chant for Arch, the media will ask about it and likely create a QB controversy, and the weekly focus of the nation will be who’s starting and is Arch gonna play? It’s not a fun situation.
Sark has to hope Ewers stays healthy and plays well, and the Mannings make it known publicly they want Arch brought along slowly. Any other way could be an issue.
The Forgotten Quarterback
Maalik Murphy. Remember him? He was a 4-star kid out of California who was Sark’s first QB commitment in the 2022 class. One year later and he’s a forgotten man. Ewers transfers in and takes the job, Arch Manning signs, and all of a sudden, Murphy is out of the picture.
But he’s so important here. If he doesn’t transfer after the spring (and he should) he’s the bridge between Ewers and Manning if the former gets hurt or struggles badly. Let Murphy play, let Manning redshirt, and keep the controversy at bay. Murphy is talented. Heck, he could be better than both, but he doesn’t have a future at Texas. But if he surprisingly stays, like Hudson Card did, he could be extremely important in this situation.
The Hope
Sark obviously needs to win in year three to keep pressure off heading into the SEC. So the hope is that the short-haired Ewers breaks out, Manning stays in the background until he takes over in 2024 as Ewers turns pro, and a smooth transition between the two occurs.
