AUSTIN (KXAN) – Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian has a focus on building his team through recruiting and development. The transfer portal is ideally set up to fill in a couple of voids for them, not be the main source of on-field talent.
As the Longhorns lose Quinn Ewers to the NFL, they have no need to turn to the transfer portal. Arch Manning backed up Ewers this past season, including starting two games in 2024, and as a freshman, he was the No. 3 behind Ewers and Maalik Murphy.
Now, Manning is set to take the reins heading into his third season in Austin. Sarkisian said Manning has never had a sense of entitlement.
“From the day he arrived, there’s been a real sense of humility about him,” Sarkisian said. “If you didn’t know the last name, you didn’t know the face and you just looked at the body of work and the teammate that he is … I just continue to see a guy who has taken it and trying to really go for it.”
As Texas heads into the 2025 campaign, they’ll have to replace a lot of talent on offense. The Longhorns lose eight starters but expect to have CJ Baxter at running back after he missed last year with a knee injury.
The only sure returning starters are DJ Campbell and DeAndre Moore. With that much new around the program and chemistry building a focus, leadership is important from the quarterback position.
“He’s now setting up those voluntary throwing sessions with the receivers. He’s breaking the team down,” Sarkisian said. “All those natural things that a quarterback has to do to instill belief in his teammates, to instill belief in the staff, he’s doing it.”
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Manning has been much more visible since Ewers declared for the draft. He’s waited his turn to become the face of the team and is now embracing the role.
“More importantly for him, which I love, is he’s having fun doing it,” Sarkisian said. “It doesn’t feel like he’s working. He’s playing the game of football. He’s being a great teammate.”
Manning and the Longhorns open the season Aug. 30 against the reigning national champion Ohio State Buckeyes. Texas won’t have a spring game but will host a fan appreciation day April 26 instead.
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