Sarkisian: Texas will need both Ewers, Manning

DALLAS — Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said he will not handle his quarterback room any differently with Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning returning for a second straight season together, saying Wednesday “we’re probably going to need both those guys at some point this season.”

During an interview session with ESPN, Sarkisian said “we’ve got a great quarterback room,” adding there is a misnomer outside the program that Ewers and Manning do not get along. He said that could not be further from the truth.

“These guys are great, great friends. Nobody gets along better,” Sarkisian said. “There’s a real level of appreciation for what each guy is doing. Because they know the journey, they know the path, they know how we coach him. From Archer’s perspective, he’s watching Quinn have to go through some of the adversity, having a fight through injury, having to deal with the criticism of being the quarterback of Texas, so to see him have success, I think Arch is fired up for Quinn.

“On the flip side, I think Quinn recognizes Arch’s journey year one in our system and what that’s like. If you go back to the spring game Arch’s true freshman year, what that looked like, and then to see how he played Year 2 in the system, there’s great appreciation from Quinn for what Arch is doing. “So in the end, we’re probably going to need both those guys at some point this season.”

Ewers started for Texas last season, leading the Longhorns to the College Football Playoff. Texas lost to Washington in heartbreaking fashion, when a fourth-down pass from Ewers to Adonai Mitchell fell incomplete as time expired. Ewers said he did not sleep for two days after the loss, thinking about the incomplete pass.

That loss, coupled with his desire to have more starting experience on the collegiate level, led to his decision to return for another season with Texas. That left Manning, the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2023 ESPN 300, as the backup quarterback for the second straight season.

Ewers said his relationship with Manning goes back to high school, and the two have developed into good friends while at Texas. He also said they hang out off the field – all the quarterbacks go out to dinner on a nearly weekly basis.

“It’s been a good past two years for us, just being able to have him in the quarterback room and us being able to push each other,” Ewers said. “It says in the Bible, ‘Iron sharpens iron.’ So to have that competitive relationship is good.”

Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, turned heads with his performance in the spring game this past year. Sarkisian made the decision to limit Ewers to a few drives in the spring game so he could see more of Manning. His young quarterback delivered, completing his first 10 passes.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Manning threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns. Compare that to the spring game his freshman year in 2023, when Manning completed 5 of 13 passes for 30 yards and endured heavy criticism from fans.

Manning served as the No. 3 quarterback in 2023, throwing five passes. But he was the backup for the semifinal game against Washington, and said during media availability before that game that sitting on the bench was difficult, but he learned through the experience.

“There were a lot of tough days, I’m not going to lie,” Manning said last December. “I was never a backup in high school. So there are some days when you graduate early, you’re alone in your dorm room, you’re like, just another day of fighting for the third-string job. Some days it’s tough. There’s hard workouts, hard practices, they expect a lot out of you. I’m glad I went through that to help me grow.”

When asked about the way fans were excited about what Manning did in the spring game, Sark didn’t miss a beat and said, “So was I,” before adding how happy he was with the quarterback room – crediting co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee.

“We’re really fortunate to have that room and the quality of people in that room, and that’s a credit to Coach Milwee to bridge that gap to bring two guys together to pull for one another,” Sarkisian said. “They’re great teammates, they both just want to win. They both want to be really successful, and I think they do appreciate the journey that each guy’s on come on.”