The hype surrounding Arch Manning hasn’t even come close to reaching its zenith, but it is about to ratchet up quite a bit with spring football now underway.
It’s Manning’s team now and he is doing everything he can to be the unquestioned leader.
"I just continue to see a guy who has taken it and is trying to really go for it," Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "He just doesn't want to leave any stone unturned. He's working at his craft. He's working so hard in the offseason conditioning runs. He's now setting up those voluntary throwing sessions with the receivers during the week or on the weekend. He's breaking the team down, doing all those natural things that a quarterback has to do to instill belief in his teammates, to instill belief in the staff."
Manning has won over the coaches, his teammates and the fan base too. The only people even raising a question about his play are those people who don’t follow the Horns every day (like you wonderful Orangebloods bastards).
Tuesday, Manning took the field as QB 1 for the first time. The young scion of football’s first family of quarterbacks commanded the field with his presence and his prowess.
@Anwar Richardson described Manning as “looking like a veteran” as he led the team and his passes were “crisp, and he made it look easy.”
@Suchomel said Manning “just looks different than the other QBs. Manning’s velocity and accuracy were on point today.”
It is not hyperbole to say that after two years of being an understudy, Manning is ready to be the man.
It is also not hyperbole to say that Manning is one of the favorites to win the Heisman in his first year as a starter.
VEGAS HEISMAN ODDS
BET MGM:
Arch Manning: +700
Cade Klubnick: +1100
Drew Allar: +1300
CEASARS:
Arch Manning: +700
Jeremiah Smith: +950
Garrett Nussmeier: +1000
Cade Klubnick: +1200
FANDUEL:
Arch Manning: +800
Garrett Nussmeier: +800
Cade Klubnick: +1000
Leave the doubts about whether Manning is legit or not to the outsiders. Manning is about to turn in the best career in burnt orange since Colt McCoy.
TEN MORE THOUGHTS FROM DAY ONE:
1) My prediction for Arch Manning’s greatness obviously depends upon him maintaining his health. But IF Texas needs to rely on Trey Owens at any point this season, I’m not worried. Owens will be a very good quarterback. One of the biggest regrets about Sark’s decision to skip a spring game is that we won’t get to see Owens with some extended playing time.
2) I am concerned about the wide receiver drops from day one. I tend to view drops as something that can be corrected, to an extent, but like annoying gnats in the summertime, they tend not to ever fully go away.
3) That being said, I am intrigued by the prospects of having a starting wide receiver lineup of Ryan Wingo, DeAndre Moore and Parker Livingstone.
4) I am … intrigued by the offensive line rotation. Trevor Goosby at left tackle, Neto Umeozulu at left guard and DJ Campbell at right guard are locked on. But center and right tackle remain big question marks.
5) According to @Alex Dunlap 's notes, Cole Hutson, Daniel Cruz and Connor Robertson were in the rotation (in that order) for center playing time. Hutson has two key advantages over Cruze, size and experience. Hutson has won three letters and has been both a starter at right guard and been deployed extensively in a rotation at the position. Cruz comes in as the higher rated recruit but will have to prove he can play better if he wants to become the starter.
I’ve long maintained that center is the most underrated position on the offensive side of the ball. It is critical to maintain strength up the middle in both the run game and the passing game. This is a battle I will be watching closely.
6) The right tackle position is another one I will be closely monitoring. It is very interesting that Andre Cojoe was running ahead of Brandon Baker. This is yet another example of a lower rated recruit running ahead of the much more touted Baker. But this position battle is far from settled and we can’t forget how much buzz early enrollee freshman Nick Brooks has generated. It shouldn’t shock anyone to see Brooks down the depth chart for his very first practice. But on the other hand, depth charts right now are VERY fluid.
Kyle Flood has his work cut out for him to find the best five offensive linemen.
7) I’ve got Malik Agbo on transfer watch when the spring portal window opens.
8) Freddie Dubose is already gone. The redshirt freshman wide receiver will have to find a new home. But his decision, and the decision to move Ryan Niblett to the defense leaves the wide receiver room very thin. Texas will DEFINITELY hit the portal for another pair of hands this spring.
9) Jonah Williams’ recovery from a collarbone injury in high school appears to be going very well. The early enrollee from Galveston made his much anticipated baseball debut Tuesday night.
Williams has attended a few football meetings, but the safety is going to miss most of spring football while he plays for baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle.
Schloss says he’s worked it all out with Sarkisian.
"Sark has said from day one, when he's with baseball, he's with baseball," Schlossnagle told reporters after Tuesday night’s 13-3 win over Sam Houston State. "I gotta decide if he's gonna travel this weekend (to Missouri) or not. I'll talk to coach Sark, see what his thoughts are. If they would want him in football, I don't want him sitting on our bench, not able to play. But he may have a real role for us."
10) Thank God Texas brought in transfer punter Jack Bouwmeester. No Sark needs to go get a place kicker in the portal as well.
OTHER THOUGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL WORLD
The sudden upheaval of spring games has thrown the college football world into a tizzy.
Deion Sanders and Syracuse head coach Fran Brown have petitioned the NCAA to allow CU and the Orange to hold joint practices, followed by a scrimmage against each other this spring.
"It's in the hands of the NCAA right now," Brown said on Syracuse’s opening day of spring practice. "We all locked in. Me and Coach Prime are excited. I love Coach Prime. Since I met him when I started recruiting his son Shilo [Sanders] back at Baylor, he's been just a straight class A dude, trying to show all young dudes how to come up in the game. How to do stuff right and just to be yourself. Locking in. We've been locked in. We're hoping this happens.”
The NCAA is scheduled to make its decision on April 10th. Normally this would be a slam dunk denial. But in the wake of multiple lawsuit losses by the NCAA in court, the organization has shown a willingness to be more open to change these days.
I’ve wondered for a while why the NCAA doesn’t allow these types of arrangements. NFL teams frequently schedule joint practices in order to boost competition.
But the real value in allowing cross-training would come in the fall, not the spring.
Imagine Texas and Texas State, or Sam Houston, or some other local school coming to Austin for several days of joint practices followed by a scrimmage?
It would allow teams to break up the monotony of fall practice. It would give coaches a better barometer of how their team is progressing. It would also allow teams to get a scrimmage in before kicking off the season for real.
It's mind boggling to me that college football is the only level of the sport that doesn’t allow scrimmages against other teams before the games start to count.
Now is the time to change the rules. Why not start with allowing Colorado to play Syracuse this spring? If nothing else, it will give us something to watch since Texas doesn’t have a spring game to look forward to.
Mike Gundy is among those who appears to be on board with spring scrimmages. He wants to revive Bedlam in the spring.
“We get tired of practicing against each other. It’s not going to be a live game because, well, I don’t know what (Oklahoma coach Brent) Venables would say, but I would be concerned with making it live just because of injury,” Gundy said. “But nobody really has live scrimmages anymore, so you make it a full thud, like we’re doing, and practice against them, just like they do in the NFL. We’re moving towards the NFL. Why not do that?”
Gundy suggested charging $25 a head to attend the scrimmage to build NIL funds for each team.
Gundy is always full of … ideas, but this one actually makes sense to me. Too bad it probably won’t happen.
Stanford General Manager Andrew Luck fired head football coach Troy Taylor following investigations into allegations Taylor belittled, bullied and retaliated against staff. According to ESPN, one source called Taylor an “equal opportunity a-hole.”
Given the timing of the dismissal, a temporary promotion from within makes the most sense. Someone like defensive coordinator, Bobby April III, could step in on an interim basis and give Luck time to find a full time successor.
However, plenty of names are being bandied about as potential candidates. Names like Jason Garrett, Kliff Kingsbury and former Stanford offensive coordinator Tevita Pritchard (who was the starting QB at Stanford before Luck took over) are among those rumored to be in consideration.
TWEETS OF INTEREST:
Quinn Ewers looked good during UT’s pro day, throwing with accuracy and touch (except for his deep passes).
But honestly, there was probably nothing Ewers could have shown during the workout that would have changed anyone’s mind about where he should be drafted. Ewers’ three years of starting experience means there is plenty of tape to prove exactly what type of quarterback he is.
Or to put it another way … the cake is already baked.
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Matthew Golden continues to impress NFL scouts. He is going to be a first round draft pick.
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Jahdae Barron had a really nice workout as well … but I promise you we will see him back in Austin. Talk about an orangeblood.
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Kelvin Banks will also be a first round draft pick. For some strange reason, he is falling in mock drafts to the lower part of round one. I don’t get it.
FYI, that sack isn’t really on Banks, it’s on Ewers for holding on to the ball for five seconds and not moving well in the pocket.
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Oh, nothing to see here, just Kyle Flood churning out more NFL offensive linemen.
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Many speculated that Deion Sanders would leave Colorado after his son’s playing time for the Buffs was over. But he looks pretty comfortable in Boulder.
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The game I played as a kid is now a “sport?” Crazy!
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This really is evil. Funny, but evil.
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