Golden: Ewers is the guy but is Arch Manning really that fast?

Steve Sarkisian gave no real news two days after Texas' second scrimmage, but he did praise Quinn Ewers for his poise and improvement during camp.

The real competition at quarterback isn't at starter, where Ewers is entrenched, but at the backup position, where Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning have been battling. While I believe Sark would love to sit Arch for a year or maybe play him a few series inside that four-game redshirt window, it would be interesting to see what the freshman is bringing to the table in live action — and not just because of his much-ballyhooed arm strength, but because of some sprinter speed we're hearing about.

Golden: Colin Simmons' commitment to Texas means Steve Sarkisian's work has just begun

Just one week ago, when asked about Manning's long touchdown run during the first scrimmage, Sark raised some eyebrows with a startling number.

“Arch made a couple plays with his legs,” he said. “I think he hit 20 miles an hour (on the TD run), which is impressive.”

Twenty miles an hour? And he was not behind the wheel of one of those scooters he's been spotted on around campus?

While Grandpa Archie was an impressive scrambler back in the day with the New Orleans Saints and dad Cooper was a quick-footed receiver at Ole Miss, it’s safe to say that Arch has already lapped uncles Eli and Peyton in the speed department. All told, the Manning family isn't exactly known for its sprinting prowess.

According to scientists, a person who runs 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash rounds out to just over 18 miles per hour, so Arch’s clocking at 20 would be that much more amazing, especially since he was in pads at the time of his epic sprint.

If anything, he’s plenty fast for the position though I don’t expect track coach Edrick Floréal to be crashing any football practices once he gets back from Hungary.

Bill Little was our go-to guy: Every time a Longhorn legend passed over the last couple of decades, at least one writer in our office would repeat the same line.

“Who do we call at Texas if something actually happened to Bill Little?”

He was our go-to guy.

Whenever a legend passed, Bill would field calls and emails from all over because he was the athletic department's resident historian. Shoot, he not only knew that history. He lived it. Bill was such a resource for journalists everywhere and not just in our state. He was respected from coast to coast, from the national writers who would visit occasionally to broadcasters who found their way here, especially in the heyday of the first decade of the 2000s.

Bohls: Bohls: Bill Little leaves behind a legacy of information and passion for all things Texas

He died Friday at age 81, leaving a huge hole in the hearts of anyone who loved the University of Texas.

Bill had stories on top of stories — he wrote them and he told them on numerous documentaries — about his 50-plus years on the Forty Acres. An old newspaper man who once worked at the American-Statesman and The Associated Press, he never held his tongue when he disagreed with something me or Kirk Bohls wrote, and we had some colorful phone conversations over the years.

Along the same lines, he would pick up the phone on the first ring if we needed assistance with a story. He understood what we do for a living and even if he didn’t like a particular piece, he respected the process because he knew the craft well.

I met the pride of Winters back in 2002 when I got promoted from the high school beat to covering Texas football and baseball. I quickly found out how important the older guy in the ballcap with football coach Mack Brown was because he was a part of everything.

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Mack never did an interview without asking one question which soon became all-too familiar with anyone covering the team.

“Ready, Bill?”

Bill was always ready. When he wasn’t at Mack’s right hand, he was writing football stories for the team website. They were of a throwback quality, which harkened back to the Grantland Rice era when sports game stories were written in a more romanticized, less newsy fashion. You always looked for a war reference or something about nature in a Little piece. He loved American history with some fleecy clouds mixed in.

I will treasure the time we spent together, from a memorable Italian dinner with his wife Kim, my wife Beverley and Longhorn baseball legend Keith Moreland in San Diego back in 2006, to all the conversations about the history of this place.

Bill earned the respect of players, coaches and journalists alike, but also protected the Texas brand with unmatched feistiness. He leaves as the unquestioned journalist laureate of Texas sports. Above all else, Bill was a good friend, a family man and somebody I respected and admired.

We lost a great one.

Crouser's grit, Tara's compassion and Sha'Carri's return: Texas track greats turned in some tremendous performances at the World Championships in Budapest over the weekend.

One day after Ryan Crouser defended his world shot put title while battling blood clots in his legs, Tara Davis-Woodhall placed second in the long jump at 6.81 meters, earning the best Olympics or Worlds finish by a Longhorns long jumper in international competition since Marquise Goodwin grabbed silver in the 2015 Pan American Games.

More: For Texas volleyball newcomer Carissa Barnes, match much more than an exhibition

Davis finished second to Serbia’s Ivana Vuleta, but showed the real spirt of competition when Vuleta was overcome with emotion after jumping a career best 7.14 meters. Davis, one of the fiercest competitors out there, ran over and embraced her in a big hug. Davis is only 5-foot-3, but she never felt taller than that moment. In the biggest competition of her 25 years, she showed true elation for an opponent.

And a quick shoutout to Dallas sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson, who captured her first world title with a blistering 10.65 in the 100 Monday to best Jamaican favorites Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce — a five-time world champion — and Shericka Jackson.

Richardson was booted from the national roster and missed the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana around the time her grandmother died, an amazing development since she's competing in a sport where performance enhancers have run rampant. The same USA Track and Field which allegedly covered up positive steroid samples of U.S. athletes at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics grew a pair at the wrong time.

It's good to see Richardson back in the winner's circle. I can't wait to see how she performs in Paris next summer.

Tatyanna Bailey inspired us: Join me in extending deepest condolences to the family of Hendrickson basketball player Tatyanna Bailey, who fought bravely against cancer before passing Friday at age 17.

Our own Rick Cantu has deftly chronicled her fight against cancer and Tatyanna receiving the Statesman’s Courage award was one of the greatest moments in the event’s history. Sports doesn’t build character as much as reveal it, but Tatyanna didn’t need a basketball to show us what she was made of. Her return to the court was easily the most inspirational moment of the sports year.

Her journey, however short, will serve as a teaching tool for every coach, teacher and mentor. The young lady they called Tatty wasn’t here long, but she touched the hearts of so many.

Yankees in epic freefall: We all have that annoying friend who is a New York Yankees fan. Yeah, I know. Those long-suffering Yankees, the owners of 27 World Series titles.

Well, you won’t have a better time than right now than to rub their noises in it, in good fun of course. They can take it. They're the Yankees, right?

The 2023 Bronx Bums lost their eighth straight Sunday, suffering a sweep at the hands of all teams, their archenemy Boston Red Sox.

With the team in an epic freefall at 60-64, GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone might be filling out applications at the post office this offseason while trying to figure out how a team with an $183 million payroll can quit so effortlessly.

So, tag a Yankee fan today and tell them it will be fine but don’t forget to include your favorite laugh emoji.

Hey, Kirk Bohls, are you reading this?

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football has Ewers as its starter but is Arch really that fast?