ESPN analyst breaks down the challenge Florida will pose for Arch Manning
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The question posed to ESPN’s Louis Riddick was a simple one: Is the month of October a make-or-break stretch for Texas quarterback Arch Manning?
Wednesday morning on ESPN’s Get Up, the topic of Manning came up. While the Longhorns are 3-1 on the season and ranked ninth in the latest AP poll, Manning has been underwhelming through 4 starts. He ranks 71st nationally in Total QBR. He ranks 97th in expected points added (EPA).
On Saturday, Manning leads the Longhorns into The Swamp to face a desperate Florida team. Riddick will be on the call for that game, and he wants to see Manning operate with a cleaner release.
“I want to see consistency as far as technique,” Riddick said. “Jordan (Rodgers) is talking about his feet. You can see it sometimes. People get square and parallel, the ball goes down in the dirt. He tries to change his arm angles sometimes. It doesn’t look natural to him.”
Much has been made early this season about Manning’s throwing angles. Particularly early in the year, Manning had a tendency to side-arm throws and compromise his accuracy. That led to questions about his upper-body health, which were quickly shot down by the Texas coaching staff.
Manning had an adjusted completion percentage of 69.3% this season, according to Pro Football Focus. That ranks 14th among 18 SEC quarterbacks with at least 50 dropbacks so far.
“If I’m Florida,” Riddick said, “every time I see Arch get flushed out of the pocket and he’s trying to throw on the run, that’s just not his thing. I would not want him to sit in the pocket and get comfortable off of play-action where he can become a rhythm thrower. You let him do that, with the weapons they have, he’s probably going to tear you up. I’m sending the house after him. I’m making him move and making him throw on the move because I think he struggles doing that.
“… This could be a much tougher test than maybe what people think for Texas.”
Kickoff against the Gators is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Texas is a 7-point favorite, per BetMGM.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
