Analyzing how Texas QB Arch Manning shined in the Orange-White game

AUSTIN, Texas — What a difference a year makes.

The anticipated burnt orange and white debut of Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning in 2023, weeks after the heir to football’s royal quarterback family completed that year’s recruiting cycle as the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country, was never set up for Manning’s success.

Competing against returning starting quarterback Quinn Ewers and Maalik Murphy in his second spring on the Forty Acres, Manning was relegated to third-string snaps in last year’s Orange-White game, playing behind an offensive line made up of walk ons and early enrollees and throwing to walk ons and early enrollees. Manning finished 5-of-13 passing for 30 yards, mostly settling for making plays with his legs.

On Saturday, however, in the 2024 edition of the Orange-White game with Manning taking over for Ewers late in the first quarters with head coach Steve Sarkisian planning to limit the reps of his starting quarterback, Manning came out firing, hitting sophomore wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. on a 75-yard touchdown pass.

“That’s why I put Quinn and Arch on the same team — I wanted Arch to be able to just go play football. He hadn’t really played in a year,” said Sarkisian after the scrimmage.

With the help of the first-team offensive line and Sarkisian’s top wide receivers — outside of early enrollee Ryan Wingo, as it turned out — Manning led five scoring drives with his lone blemish coming on the final play, a hail mary on a play snapped with one second remaining that was intercepted near the goal line. The redshirt freshman finished 19-of-25 passing for 355 yards passing and three touchdowns. Another would-be touchdown went off the hands of junior Alabama transfer wide receiver Isaiah Bond in the first half and two more incompletions came on the final drive when Manning opted against putting the ball in danger against strong coverage.

On several occasions, Bond made up for that aforementioned miscue, elevating for a catch on a throw that Manning made under duress and then temporarily taking the lead for the White team with a little over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when Bond beat press coverage to the boundary and Manning hit him for another 75-yard touchdown on a go route.

The play design on Manning first’s touchdown made the throw more simple for the young quarterback, who faked a screen to the boundary, holding the single deep safety, while a switch route helped Moore break open on a coverage miscue by either junior cornerback Terrance Brooks, who carried the new inside route, or junior nickel back Jaylon Guilbeau, who played the curl without carrying Moore with the running back flaring to the flat.

Still, Manning showed off his textbook mechanics and timing by hitting Moore with a beautifully-throw pass.

In a similar vein, Bond was set up for success on his long touchdown catch with a one-on-one matchup against senior cornerback Gavin Holmes as the X receiver to the boundary — normally a field cornerback not tasked with playing press coverage because of his dearth of height and length at 5’11, Holmes failed to jam Bond at the line of scrimmage and the Alabama transfer is too fast to catch from behind.

Still, Manning made the simple and clear pre-snap read with the single deep safety shaded to the field and ensured that Bond had a chance to score by hitting him in stride.

As Manning completed his first 10 passing attempts on Saturday before twice failing to connect with Bond, the touchdown pass to Blue illustrated a key area of growth for Manning, who has a tendency to use his athleticism to escape the pocket and make a play with his legs instead of with his talented right arm.

“The biggest thing I saw from Arch was something that we kind of really harped on with him about a week and a half ago about just dial into playing the play, keep your eyes up,” said Sarkisian.

The Texas head coach spoke publicly in his final media availability before the Orange-White game about Manning’s improvement from the second scrimmage to Tuesday’s practice in precisely that area — staying in the pocket and maintaining the eye discipline to find passing targets breaking open.

On the pass to Blue, it came behind strong protection and on a rather late-developing route — out of the backfield, the electric Texas running back looked like he was going to run a wheel route before breaking it inside against senior linebacker Mo Blackwell, winning easily into space.

With Manning non-contact in the practice, Sarkisian admitted that Manning was likely frustrated at times with his quick whistle to blow plays dead, but when plays did develop, Manning made the right decisions.

“When he keeps his eyes up and steps up in the pocket, he can deliver those balls down the field the way we like to play and so it was good to see, it was good to see some of the guys around him play with him the way that they did,” said Sarkisian.

The small things stood out, too. When Manning needed to check down because the downfield options in his progressions weren’t open, he check down. When Manning needed to deliver screen passes, he did so on time and on target to allow the intended receiver the best chance to make yards after the catch. When he identified a cushion provided by the defender in coverage, he converted those opportunities.

And despite all the typical caveats about a quarterback’s performance in a spring game, Manning left no doubt that his trajectory is on track to play at a high level when Ewers moves on to the NFL after the 2024 season.

After all, a year can make all the difference.

Imagine what another year can do for Arch Manning.