Texas Longhorns 'Devising Plan' at QB After Quinn Ewers Injury vs. Houston Cougars
The Texas Longhorns and coach Steve Sarkisian will have an interesting week ahead as they prepare for potentially an extended period without starting quarterback Quinn Ewers after he injured his throwing shoulder in Saturday's 31-24 road win over the Houston Cougars.
Ewers exited at the start of the fourth quarter and was replaced by Maalik Murphy, who entered Saturday with just six collegiate pass attempts. Regardless, he quarterbacked two drives, including the go-ahead six-play, 53-yard scoring drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown run from running back CJ Baxter.
Murphy finished just 1 of 2 passing for seven yards, but still deserves the "save" on his record like a closing pitcher would.
“I thought Maalik showed great poise and composure," Sarkisian said.
However, despite there being little question that Murphy would start in Ewers' absence, Sarkisian mentioned Arch Manning as well when talking about the plan at quarterback against the BYU Cougars on Saturday.
“The team has a lot of confidence in Maalik and Arch,” Sarkisian said. “We’ll devise a plan for whoever that QB is."
Maalik Murphy (left) and Arch Manning
USA TODAY
Manning, a true freshman, could still be redshirted this season as long as he doesn't appear in no more than four games. He's still yet to receive his first collegiate snaps, but Texas fans got a look at him in action during the Orange-White scrimmage in April.
In that game, Manning went 5 of 13 for 30 yards. While the critics unsurprisingly came flocking, it was hard to argue that he looked perfectly fine for a young freshman that had just started spring ball.
Though there's been no in-game proof yet, Manning has certainly improved since then. In the event of Murphy having to exit the game at any point in the coming weeks, the Longhorns could have to lean on Manning during some crucial Big 12 play late in the season.
Texas and BYU will kickoff from Austin on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT.
