Texas redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning will start for the Longhorns on Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe, coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday.
Manning, the son of Cooper Manning and nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, threw for four touchdowns and ran for another last week in relief of starting quarterback Quinn Ewers, who left Texas’ 56-7 win over UTSA with a strained oblique. Sarkisian said Monday that Ewers was “questionable” for this weekend while they monitored his recovery.
It will be the first career start for Manning, the former No. 1 recruit in the 2023 class.
Arch Manning will start at quarterback for Texas on Saturday, coach Steve Sarkisian said.
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) September 19, 2024
Manning was 9 of 12 passing for 223 yards against UTSA and looked “calm and composed,” according to Sarkisian. True freshman Trey Owens, who made his career debut last week against UTSA, will serve as Manning’s backup on Saturday.
This will be the third straight season that Ewers has missed a game with an injury. He missed three games in 2022 with a collarbone injury and missed two games last year with an AC joint sprain. Sarkisian said this week that based on how well Ewers has played since those injuries, he’s confident Ewers will come back strong from this setback as well.
Ewers was playing some of the best football of his career before the injury. He completed a career-high 73.4 percent of his passes this season, threw for 691 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions and averaged 8.7 yards per attempt in more than eight quarters of action. Entering last weekend, Ewers was the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.
The No. 1 Longhorns (3-0) are a 44.5-point favorite over the Warhawks, according to BetMGM.
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