Texas Football: Sarkisian doesn’t want to play both QBs in Week 1

It’s getting closer to the time where new Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian has to name a starting quarterback ahead of the start of the 2021 regular season. Texas opens up the regular season slate on Sep. 4 at home at DKR against the No. 23 ranked Louisiana Ragin-Cajuns.

That now gives Sark and the Longhorns less than two weeks to decide which one of the two top quarterbacks should be the starter in Week 1. For a while in fall camp, it seemed like sophomore Hudson Card had the momentum over redshirt junior Casey Thompson. But that edge might not play out in Card getting named as the starting quarterback.

According to a report from Horns247 on Aug. 23, Card took more sacks in fall camp thus far but Thompson has tossed more picks. There’s two different dynamics at play with the two quarterbacks here. And the decision for Sark looks to come down to more than just arm talent.

It sounds like the pocket presence is very much still a work in progress for Card, which is natural for a freshman quarterback. But the pocket presence is still something that could give Thompson an edge.

Texas football HC Steve Sarkisian needs to soon decide between Hudson Card and Casey Thompson

And with both signal-callers playing well in the second fall scrimmage last weekend, it’s not making this decision easy for Sark. But we do know now, at least per this report from Horns247, that Sark doesn’t want to play a two-quarterback system in Week 1 against Louisiana.

Keeping the preference to name a starting quarterback for Week 1, instead of running the two-quarterback system, is significant. But we could still see a short leash for the eventual starting quarterback early in the regular season either way.

Sark’s most highly anticipated, and potentially most consequential, decision of his first year as Texas head coach will be naming the starting quarterback. Each time it feels like either Card or Thompson gets an edge in camp, the decision seemingly goes back to a toss-up.

There’s no clear option for Sark to roll with in Week 1 at the moment. He has to be moving at least a little bit closer to a decision here, but it’s really difficult to pick a clear favorite at the moment.

This starting quarterback decision is crucial for Sark and the Longhorns as the non-conference schedule is difficult right out of the gates. Texas takes on No. 23 Louisiana in Week 1, and then travels to face the longtime rival Arkansas Razorbacks in a night game the following weekend.