Texas HC Steve Sarkisian explains how he built Arch Manning’s confidence heading into first start vs. ULM
Sarkisian doesn’t want Manning over-thinking the situation vs. ULM. ‘I want him to play football.’
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has long been known as a quarterback whisperer, someone who can mold young signal-callers into stars. It’s all he’s ever done, with an established track record going to USC, Washington, Alabama and now Texas.
Saturday is a chance for Sarkisian’s next pupil to showcase what he’s been learning and get pressure-tested with 100,000 fans looking on inside Royal-Memorial Stadium.
Redshirt freshman Arch Manning will make his first career start for No. 1 Texas against Louisiana-Monroe, a 2-0 program but also a 45-point underdog in this matchup.
Manning accounted for five touchdowns coming off the bench last week against UTSA. But this is different. He’s had time all week to think about starting — or trying not to overthink — for the Longhorns (3-0).
Texas QB Arch Manning may be famous, but ULM’s General Booty is more creative with ‘Booty Call’ T-shirts, website
Booty started the NIL-related website while playing at Oklahoma and partnering with Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma City
“He executed, but that was almost the reaction to go in,” Sarkisian said. “My goal is, I just don't want him to kind of overanalyze and get himself into kind of the paralysis by analysis state. I want him to play football.”
Nobody really knew what to expect from quarterback Quinn Ewers during his second start at Texas against No. 1 Alabama in 2022. He hadn’t even been hit by defenders much since leaving Southlake Carroll and redshirting one year at Ohio State.
Ewers started the Bama game 9-for-12 for 134 yards in the first quarter before getting knocked out with an injury. It was such a strong performance that most observers felt the Longhorns were on the right track. And they were, as Ewers would lead the Horns to the Big 12 title and College Football Playoffs in 2023.
Arch Manning may start Saturday, but Steve Sarkisian leaves no doubt Quinn Ewers remains QB1 for Texas football
Sarkisian believes missing ULM game won’t alter Ewers’ chances to win the Heisman Trophy and be top NFL Draft pick
Sarkisian said he doesn’t want Manning doing too much Saturday. He doesn’t feel like Manning has to “lead the team,” per se. All the coach wants the quarterback to do is execute the offense and do it “at a high level.” Execute the plays that are called, get the ball to the play-makers, move the chains.
It helps that Texas has at least six talented receivers, including one of the fastest in college football in Isaiah Bond, and one of the best offensive lines in America.
Asked how he prepares his quarterbacks mentally, Sarkisian said, “I would say we coach our quarterbacks really hard. You can ask those guys. But that's intentional. We try to put as much stress and as much pressure on them on a daily basis on the field, so that when they do get in the environment of playing in front of 100,000 people that they're comfortable.
“Because it's hard to create 100,000 people, but I can create it with myself and (quarterbacks coach A.J.) Milwee coaching them hard and hold them accountable to every single detail that they’re responsible for.
“Then in turn as we start getting closer to games, we start building them up and making sure that they feel really good about what they're doing,” Sarkisian continued. “The psyche is important, but again, I think what takes care of a lot of the psyche is when you know what to do and then when you know what to do, and then you execute it, that should build your confidence.
“I think psyche becomes fragile when you make mistakes, when you force interceptions, you fumble the ball, when you forget to motion people, that's when the psyche can start to get a little bit shaky. So we just try to we try to coach them hard, we try to get them to do things the right way, and then we try to build them up the closer to game days as we get there.”
