Arch Manning Burnt Orange-White Game All Up, But QB Race Is No Texas 2-Step Yet

Arch Manning represents the best part of why the no-wait NCAA Transfer Portal was born - to give excellent players who are backing up other excellent players a chance at another school the very next season before it's too late.

Too often what it becomes, though, is the NCAA Backup Portal - filled with players who leave their original school too fast because they're backups who remain backups at the new school.

RELATED: Arch Manning Wows 'Em In Spring Game

Manning could start this season and could've started last season at a litany of schools, but the Portal Poster Boy has no plans to enter the portal. He is waiting his turn and developing in the process. Manning - the consensus No. 1 quarterback in the nation when he signed with Texas in December of 2022 - will be Texas' backup quarterback for the second straight season in 2024, barring an injury to fourth-year junior and returning starter Quinn Ewers or unexpected really bad performances. Ewers has been Texas' starter since the 2022 season.

If everything continues to progress according to plan, Manning will not start for Texas until 2025 as a third-year sophomore.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning played spectacularly on Saturday in Texas' spring game, but returning starter Zach Ewers (left) is expected to remain the starter for the 2024 season. (Getty Images)

But after a spring game like he had Saturday, the portal would beckon the more typical backup. Manning's father Cooper and grandfather Archie, the College Football Hall of Fame quarterback from Ole Miss whose sons Peyton and Eli are each two-time Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, are not pushing a transfer, as so many family members and handlers so often do. 

Arch will wait, but oh what a spring game it was. And oh, what might be.

Manning completed his first 10 passes in the Orange-White Texas spring game Saturday, including a 75-yard touchdown to wide receiver DeAndre Moore on his first snap. His grandfather completed his first 11 passes in his NFL rookie debut on Sept. 19, 1971, for the New Orleans Saints and directed a major, 24-20 upset of the Los Angeles Rams and Roman Gabriel, who passed away Saturday at age 83.

Arch Manning Threw For 355 Yards And 3 TDs

This was just a spring game, but Manning finished 11 of 13 for 189 yards in the first half with two touchdowns. He would have had a third, but Alabama transfer wide receiver Isaiah Bond let one slip off his fingertips in the end zone with 12 seconds to go in the second quarter. Manning finished 19-of-26 passing for 355 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Four of his incompletions could have been caught.

"Probably the most exciting spring game I've ever been a part of," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "I've been doing this for quite some time, but it was pretty entertaining on a lot of levels."

The Manning level to be exact.

"I wanted Arch to be able to just go play football," Sarkisiana said. "He hadn't really played in a year. And I know what Quinn's about. Quinn's had a greteat spring."

Texas' Arch Manning, the No. 1 QB prospect out of high school in the 2022 season, threw just five passes as a backup in the 2023 season. (Getty Images).

Manning played in just two games last season, and each was mop-up duty late in wins over Texas Tech, 57-7, and Oklahoma State, 49-21, in the Big 12 title game. He completed 2 of 5 passes for 30 yards on the season. Ewers started all 12 games and led the Longhorns to the College Football Playoff before a loss to Washington in a semifinal at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. He finished No. 16 in the nation in efficiency on 272-of-394 passing for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns with six interceptions. 

RELATED: Arch Manning Draws Huge Crowd At CFP Media Day

"For us, we're very fortunate at the quarterback position to have a third-year starter, to have the backup that we have," Sarkisian said.

Ewers played in just two series Saturday and threw a tipped interception that defensive back Alfred Collins returned for a touchdown.

"That was totally the plan for Quinn," Sarkisian said.

"I knew this entire week I was going to have one or two drives," Ewers said. "But yeah, as a competitor, I definitely wanted to go out there and put a good drive together, but it didn't happen. But it's all right."

Quinn Ewers has been Texas' starting quarterback since the 2022 season, and the plan is for him to start again in 2024. (Getty Images)

This was Arch's day for now.

"It was fun to watch," Ewers said.

"The biggest thing I saw from Arch was something we really harped on him about just dialing into playing the play, keeping your eyes up," Sarkisian said. "When he gets himself in trouble at times is when he relies on his athleticism, which he has a ton of. There were times I blew the whistle on him (to avoid contact), and I don't know if he was really happy with me."

But it's not like he's going to transfer.

"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," Sarkisian said. "It was good to see. It was good to see some of the guys around him play with him the way that they did. I'm very excited with where we're at at quarterback."

For the Manning Dynasty, though, the waiting game continues.