Texas Football: Could Arch Manning win backup job over Maalik Murphy?

The early enrollees from the 2023 Texas football recruiting class arrived on campus for the spring semester earlier this month. And there was no bigger early enrollee on campus for this semester from the 2023 signing class than the elite five-Star Isidore Newman quarterback Arch Manning.

The Longhorns faithful are already getting excited about what Arch could bring to the table as the future face of this football program.

Yet, it originally looked as if Texas fans were going to have to wait a while to see Arch actually hold a spot on the two-deep quarterback depth chart. The plan for him coming out of high school at Texas looked to be that he would redshirt for his true freshman campaign while Quinn Ewers and Maalik Murphy held it down on the two-deep at the quarterback position.

In the last week or so, though, there is some buzz going around that Arch might not redshirt in 2023 after all. A report from Eric Nahlin of Inside Texas on Jan. 14 (paid content) indicates that Manning’s first year on the Forty Acres might not turn out to be the “clipboard year” that many once thought it was bound to be.

The biggest takeaway I have from this IT report is that Arch is more advanced mechanically and maturity-wise than head coach Steve Sarkisian and QB coach AJ Milwee thought he might’ve come into college with otherwise. And if Arch is able to adjust to the speed of the game effectively in camp this offseason, it sounds like he will be able to legitimately compete for the backup job with the rising sophomore quarterback Murphy.

How could Arch Manning compete with Maalik Murphy for the backup QB spot for Texas football in 2023?

This also reads to me that Murphy hasn’t come along in terms of his adjusted throwing mechanics and development as a pocket quarterback as much as Sark and Milwee would’ve liked heading into the 2023 offseason. Granted, that is just speculation based on this report.

Something else of note here is that Arch will probably be a three-year quarterback at Texas before he looks to take his talents to the next level. It did sound like that was always a possibility with Arch, but this is one of the first times I’ve seen this reported since Arch signed early with the Longhorns last month during the Early Signing Period.

So, what does Arch actually need to do this offseason to legitimately compete for the backup job with Murphy?

First and foremost, I think Arch must show during spring ball that he can be a quick learner and adjust to the pace of the game in the Power Five quickly. If he shows flashes that he can calmly go through his reads and make the necessary throws in Sark’s offensive scheme during spring practice and in the Orange-White Game in April, that is a good first step that could allow him to compete for the backup job in fall camp.

Another factor here that would be a necessary part of Arch competing for the backup job would be any potential limitations that Murphy faces. If Murphy hasn’t shown that he’s made the necessary strides to be effective in Sark’s offense (i.e. his throwing mechanics still aren’t developed and he’s getting happy feet in the pocket), that will open up the door for Arch to win the backup job.

All in all, I think Arch’s progressions in camp this offseason will matter just as much as Murphy’s development in terms of who wins the backup job behind Ewers ahead of the 2023 season. And just because someone has won the backup job coming out of camp doesn’t mean that person will hold that spot on the two-deep throughout the entire 2023 campaign.

If Ewers and/or Murphy are struggling in the fall, that is something else that could give Arch an inside track to getting some key live-game reps as a true freshman.

I do still believe that the quarterback depth chart in 2023 (in order from top-to-bottom) will be Ewers as the starter, Murphy as the backup, and Arch waiting in the wings as the third-stringer. Yet, as I’ve mentioned multiple times already, this pecking order is bound to change depending on the potential strides that each of these young quarterbacks makes in 2023.