Kirby Smart tips his hat to Texas QB Arch Manning ahead of SEC Championship game
The Georgia Bulldogs are getting ready to take on the Texas Longhorns in the SEC Championship. It's the second time this season that Georgia and Texas will face off after the Bulldogs won 30-15 in Arlington back in October. That means Georgia is very familiar with Texas starting quarterback Quinn Ewers. They are also not […]
The Georgia Bulldogs are getting ready to take on the Texas Longhorns in the SEC Championship.
It's the second time this season that Georgia and Texas will face off after the Bulldogs won 30-15 in Arlington back in October.
That means Georgia is very familiar with Texas starting quarterback Quinn Ewers. They are also not strangers to backup Arch Manning.
Ewers was briefly replaced by Manning in the second quarter the first time they played the Bulldogs. The youngster completed three of six passes for 19 yards before Ewers stepped back in and attempted a comeback.
Could Georgia Face Arch Manning in the SEC Championship?
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian hinted this week ahead of the conference championship that Manning could make another debut against Georgia.
“We might,” Sarkisian said when asked if they would get Manning involved in the offense again. “I don’t know. I would say, no, we haven’t fully opened our playbook because as a staff we sit around and think about our roster and we think about our team and we think about what we’re good at and we think about what we can improve, and we’re gonna run stuff Saturday that we haven’t run all year because of who were are as a team now and finding new ways to try and move the football and create issues for our opponents.”
At this point, Manning has enough experience to play more than a few snaps with two starts under his belt. He finished the regular season throwing for 939 yards and nine touchdowns with just two interceptions through six games.
The former five-star recruit has also already earned respect and extremely high praise from head coach Kirby Smart.
“He's what everybody thought he was. He's athletic, smart, thick, great thrower," Smart said. "He can run their entire offense while at the same time creating designed runs or off-schedule runs. Both are scary because designed runs with him are tough to defend because you're having to defend the whole field, and then he's also an elite thrower and passer. He's a great player, and they brought him along the right way. He's gained confidence each and every week in the way he plays. He got to start some games. You couldn't write a better story for him in terms of development to be ready to go and be the starter.”
Game planning for two quarterbacks has not been the best-case scenario for this Georgia defense but it sounds like they won't have a choice based on what Sarkisian had to say about Manning playing on Saturday.
But regardless of who is under center for the Longhorns, Georgia's goal will remain the same which is to play physical.
