Texas Football: 3 underclassmen standing out early in summer workouts

Maalik Murphy, QB

At the moment, it looks like a lot of the momentum in the backup quarterback competition heading into the fall is with sophomore Maalik Murphy over true freshman early enrollee Arch Manning. Murphy finished spring ball appearing to have the upper hand in the race to win the backup QB job for the upcoming season behind redshirt sophomore Quinn Ewers.

Once Murphy got some actual practice reps in individual or team drills after returning from a nagging lower-body injury issue, he was able to really show what he could do in this offense. Murphy has a special arm where the ball explodes out of his hand, especially when he’s targeting the deep throws.

Murphy continues to get better and look the part as a future standout at the quarterback position from what we’ve heard early in summer workouts. It sounds like Murphy is more confident and in a great rhythm this summer.

It’s worth noting that this is Murphy’s first time participating in the summer workout routine with the rest of the team. He was either limited or going through the rehab program as a true freshman last offseason when he was recovering from an ankle injury.

Horns247 reported last week (paid content) that Murphy is “carrying himself with a lot of confidence” early this summer. He is also being mentioned among some of the most vocal leaders among the offensive players in summer workouts.

Murphy is making a lot of the necessary strides since the latter stages of spring ball to be in a spot to solidify himself as the backup quarterback heading into fall camp. As long as he stays healthy this offseason, Murphy should finally be able to prove what he can do on the field this fall in a backup role.