Steve Sarkisian praises Arch Manning’s preparation ahead of Week 4 at Tennessee
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Arch Manning has a chance to prove a lot of people wrong this weekend as he and the Texas Longhorns travel to face No. 14 Tennessee at Neyland Stadium.
Manning has not fared well in previous road matchups as Texas’ starting quarterback. The Longhorns lost games at Ohio State, Florida and Georgia last season, and — according to Steve Sarkisian earlier this week — Neyland Stadium is louder than all of them.
Texas’s head coach spoke with reporters again on Thursday ahead of the top 15 clash. He was asked about Manning’s preparation for the noise during Saturday’s crucial SEC matchup, to which Sarkisian said the following of his QB1:
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a quarterback, maybe Matt Ryan, that prepares better than (Manning) does,” Sarkisian said, via OnTexasFootball. “That is really truly dialed into the plan with what we’re trying to do and executing those things.”
Tennessee’s defense features a mostly new secondary and front this year after shedding former DC Tim Banks in favor of Penn State DC Jim Knowles. The Vols haven’t played any titans yet this season, but Tennessee currently sits 4th in the SEC in scoring defense and 9th in the SEC in yards allowed per game.
The Vols want to disrupt the quarterback. They’ve pressured 71% of dropbacks where the QB holds the ball for longer than 2.5 seconds — the No. 1 mark in the country through 3 weeks. With the crowd in mind, Tennessee is going to look to make Manning’s life pure chaos for 60 minutes on Saturday.
Time to see if Manning is ready. Longhorns at Vols is set to kick off at Noon on ABC.
Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
