Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian heads into year five with massive expectations after reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals for a second straight year. And now, he has quarterback Arch Manning at the helm.
Manning impressed in two starts last season after Quinn Ewers went down with an injury against UTSA early in the year. With a big showdown against national champion Ohio State on the horizon in week one, Longhorns fans will get an immediate look at the third-generation Manning.
Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian Sees Shades of Archie in Arch Manning
Sarkisian spoke with ESPN’s Pete Thamel Friday, touching on a variety of topics including the emerging quarterback, who he compared to his grandfather — Archie Manning.
“I think there’s something that’s unique about Arch,” Sarkisian said. “You can watch him throw and you see when you get up on him in person, man, he’s a bigger guy than maybe people think. When you watch him throw, the arm talent and the deep ball is there.”
“Then you watch him move and you’re like, wait, this guy’s a better athlete than I thought. Definitely got grandpa’s gene. It’s not the uncles, he got grandpa’s gene. There’s an infectious leadership that he has, that I don’t want to say is unintentional because he intentionally leads. You can feel that. But the unintentional leadership ability he has, players gravitate to him, they want to be around him.”
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“They like him for who he is, not for the name on the back of his jersey. And I think that’s something that he provides. He’s a fiery guy. He enjoys playing the game. Even in practice he’ll make a throw, and he’ll look over at me and wink at me almost like, ‘Did you like that?’ And so we have really good rapport, but I understand now because of my rapport with him, why the players have really good rapport with him. He just has a natural ability to engage with people.”
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