Arch Manning won't arrive until 2023, but he just set a win-or-else tone for Texas football in 2022
The curse of recruiting fandom is living in the future and ignoring the present.
Steve Sarkisian just received the most important news for the 2022 season at Texas: The job of playing quarterback just got real for Quinn Ewers.
That’s where this story begins and ends.
Not with Arch Manning’s commitment Thursday to Texas, or the impact that the No. 1 overall player in the 2023 class has on the future of the program.
The future at Texas for Sarkisian, in his second year at Austin after a shaky Year 1, and for Ewers, is right now. This season, this moment, this time.
If Texas has another sub-.500 season under Sarkisian, adding yet another black eye to more than a decade of underachieving, Sarkisian and Ewers both might not be around in 2023 to greet Manning.
Not with Texas potentially entering the SEC as soon as the 2023 season — where the stakes are greater and the competition is, too.
So when the “High School student” Manning — that’s his Twitter bio: High School student — announced in the only tweet he has ever published (I love this kid already) that he had committed to Texas, Sarkisian’s “All Gas, No Brakes” mantra took on new meaning for Ewers.
The 5-star transfer from Ohio State either plays well in 2022, or loses the job to Manning in 2023 — and will then proceed to find a new school for the third time in as many seasons.
But before we go further, it must be pointed out that 247Sports has had 3 perfect recruiting scores at quarterback in the history of its rankings. Two of the 3 were earned by Ewers and Manning (the 3rd was another Longhorn, Vince Young).
That’s right, a perfect 1,000 score for Ewers and Manning.
Ewers played high school football about 4 hours north on I-35 at legendary Carroll High in Southlake, Texas, and would’ve signed with the Longhorns had the state of Texas passed an NIL law.
So he left for Ohio State, lost out on the starting job to a guy who could be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft (CJ Stroud), and came back home to Texas because Sarkisian was desperate for a quarterback.
And that, everyone, is the worst possible place to be as a head coach: with a quarterback who knows he’s your only answer.
Will he compete in practice? Will he be humble and earn the trust and respect of his teammates? Will he work with his teammates over the summer and build critical chemistry that all championship teams have?
If there were ever any doubt about any of those questions, they ended Thursday afternoon when the “High School student” announced he was committing to Texas.
Manning did it with little fanfare, and was extraordinarily mature and respectful of the process. He didn’t talk about NIL deals, or finding which school was best for his ability to earn while playing.
He didn’t take the easiest road to play right away (Alabama), or to the program with the stocked roster (Georgia). He talked about ball, and how important the right “fit” was for him — much like his uncles (Peyton and Eli) did during their high profile recruitment.
He also left little doubt for Ewers. The consensus No. 1 player in high school isn’t signing with a program unless he believes he can play from Day 1.
The only way Manning doesn’t play Day 1 is if Ewers has a breakout season. If Ewers plays so well that Texas takes a significant step toward the elite of the Big 12 and nationally, he makes it nearly impossible for Sarkisian to move away from another year of Ewers as the starter.
Remember, Ewers was a perfect score QB recruit. As much as we all like to complain that recruiting isn’t an exact science, the only other perfect score quarterback recruit won a national title at Texas and was one of the best players of his generation.
Sarkisian hasn’t named an official starter for the 2022 season, but if it’s anyone other than Ewers, that’s a significant red flag — for Ewers and Sarkisian’s ability to develop him.
Ewers hasn’t played a full season of football since his junior year at Carroll High in 2019. He reclassified and graduated high school early, and skipped his senior season before enrolling at Ohio State in January of 2021.
He played well this spring but didn’t separate from last year’s part-time starter Hudson Card. Sarkisian, like most coaches, didn’t name a starter because he wanted to keep Ewers on edge and constantly in competition mode throughout the summer.
But nothing Sarkisian could’ve said or done had more impact than Manning’s commitment.
It’s now or never for Quinn Ewers, the one-time perfect score quarterback.
The High School student is on the way.
Horns have a knack for taking great talent and turning it into mush. There’s no evidence that Sarkisian is any different than any other coach since Mack Brown (who used to be Barry Switzer’s OC at OU). And the horns weren’t relevant in the national discussion until they got former Sooner All-American Darrel K. Royal as their head coach. I understand they’ve named their football stadium after a Sooner alumnus. Think about it folks. The horns wouldn’t be jack without former Sooners. The evil burnt orange empire will go down with whomever they put out on the field. BOOMER!
No need to worry about LSU. No way Kelly getting a top-rated quarterback and be able to dominate in the SEC. Kelly failed to get real good quarterback when he was at ND. So, I wouldn’t worry about LSU being able to get back to the playoff while Kelly is the HC at LSU.
Idiot troll. LSU wasn’t mentioned anywhere.
“No need to worry about LSU. No way Kelly getting a top-rated quarterback and be able to dominate in the SEC. ”
Amazing how a Misery fan is knocking a school that is very relevant in the SEC in every sport.
What has Misery accomplished?
Nothing.
Kelly’s a great coach and should do better at LSU than ND. Look for LSU to compete every year for a natty under Coach Kelly. This is a win for LSU.
“Horns have a knack for taking great talent and turning it into mush. ”
That is true.
Pat Dye played at Georgia. Auburn’s field is named after him. The field at Sanford Stadium is named after Vince Dooley, who went to Auburn. Royal being an OU alumnus is quite the “own” you think it is.
It’s actually pretty common.
Texas has as many playoff wins as Oklahoma.
*Is not
True and excellent points. But it is fun to remind the horns of where they were prior to Royal, who was an assistant coach to Bud Wilkinson before finding his way to Austin.
@SoTexSooner Fun to remind them that they stole a gem from their biggest rival who turned into one of the best CFB coaches in history and won them multiple titles? Im sure they are fuming. Imagine A&M fans trying to make fun of Bama for taking Bear Bryant, LSU for Bama getting Saban.
“Pat Dye played at Georgia. Auburn’s field is named after him. The field at Sanford Stadium is named after Vince Dooley, who went to Auburn. ”
Yeah, that’s what I love about the AU/UGA rivalry. We’re family.
We’re family,…. Until the hoses get turned on.
Hello Texas NIL money!
I bet he’s getting $5 million guaranteed. If there’s one thing texas has it’s money.
That’s a shame, he could’ve had a future anywhere else in the SEC except maybe Vandy. Those two will have quite the rivalry game once the move is complete.
Must have been a slow news day in the SEC for SDS to be spilling so much ink on a future Big 12 player…
Yes any program wanted him but surprised he didn’t pick us or Bama. Those two programs are stability, all things proven as far as being able to win a title. Sark is as unproven of a big program head coach as there is, I.e., winning 8 games or so at Wash and USC. Just think it’s a huge risk for a recruit that one would think wouldn’t make that type of choice.
It’s pretty clever when you think about it. He can leverage millions out of this from the Texas oil wealth while not having to compete against difficult in-conference teams and probably starting his freshman year without having to compete against any other high caliber QBs. If he wins he looks fantastic, if he loses he still goes to the NFL and everyone blames Sark before firing him.
And all he had to do is whisper “transfer portal” each season to make another few million dollars before he can even legally drink a beer.
It’s a win-win for the kid.
If it’s all about the money he may be costing himself tens to hundreds of millions dpending on it all shakes out. Top NFL QBs are now getting 40m a year and rising fast. So he makes 2 or 3m a year at UT with the NIL but has little success and mediocre coaching (Sark IS mediocre no doubt). All the NIL money could go down the drain just based on his NFL draft position never mind all the real money that’s at stake after that.
Mac Jones might disagree with your mediocre statement. Sark has developed several top flight QBs. Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley & Jake Locker are just some of the QBs he has coached. That’s better than mediocre.
Carson Palmer was pretty good. The rest of those guys got drafted but were hack NFL QBs. I don’t think Sark is a good QB coach much less a good OC or head coach. Maybe he will prove me wrong.
And it was Norm Chow that coached up Palmer not Sark. Sark sucks. Just sayin.
he committed to tu not UT.
Sark might be a decent QB coach but if he can’t coach the guys protecting Arch, or the WRs he’s throwing to, then he won’t have a good career. Bama has a tendency to make mediocre coordinators and assistants look like the next big thing. It’s the Saban effect.
Stop lumping Bama in with UGA concerning Arch. Bama got their QB a month ago and frankly he’s better. UGA is the one that put all their eggs in the Arch basket and lost.
The Mannings don’t like Saban. They like to laugh. Nick doesn’t. So that ended that. Dawgs didn’t need him and the circus that comes with him. Glad he went elsewhere.
Georgia, where 5* QB’s go to figure out where to transfer!
It’s impossible to tell if the #1 rated QB or the #8 rated QB is going to have the better college career. In the 2017 recruiting cycle, the #18 rated QB (Mac Jones) was a 2020 Heisman finalist AND the #33 rated QB ( Kenny Pickett) was 2021 Heisman finalist.
So who will Texas hire in November or December to save Arch’s commitment, since we know Sark will go 5-7 at best this year?
Urban Meyer
I’m reading some “sour grapes” posts by Bama and UGA fans. This is one Bama fan that is disappointed that Arch didn’t choose Bama. Maybe Eli Holstein turns out to be great, but, would love to have had Manning also. And, Sark has already shown what he can do with a talented offense
As another Alabama Crimson Tide Fan…I did not ever think that Arch Manning would come to Alabama. Ole Miss or Texas were my top two(2) schools for him.
I was indifferent and mostly saw him as a distraction, and I was personally hoping he’d go play for Lane. I don’t think there was sufficient NIL money for him there, though. I’m glad we can forget about him again now.
As another poster stated perfectly, he’s a Kardashian. And I don’t care about them, either.