Texas now laser-focused on Arch Manning, showing just how ‘delicate’ QB recruiting can be

When it comes to recruiting, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is proving himself a regular “Cool Hand Luke.”

Texas may have gone 5-7 last season, but now that he’s owned it, Sarkisian might have some newfound respect and a little more street cred. As Paul Newman said on the big screen, “Sometimes, nothing can be a really cool hand.”

The Longhorns have offered a scholarship to only one quarterback in the class of 2023 — five-star standout Arch Manning.

Manning is certainly listening. The Louisiana product and his family took an unofficial visit to UT last season. On Saturday, 247Sports reported that he will make official visits to Georgia (the weekend of June 4), Alabama (June 11) and Texas (June 18).

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Sarkisian has set his sights on the nation’s No. 1 recruit with the all-world family genetics. This is high-stakes poker, to be sure. So far, he hasn’t flinched.

“I don’t panic,” Sarkisian said Wednesday at the Houston Touchdown Club. “You know, I didn’t panic last year with the linemen. I won’t panic with the quarterbacks this year, or any year, for that matter.

“I think we pride ourselves on the ability to develop the relationships with the kids and their families,” he added. “You earn trust. If I didn’t feel good about a situation, I would go in another direction. I feel pretty good about our track record. I could probably get a quarterback committed today. But ideally, I’d like to recruit the best guys. And that’s how you build your roster, so we’re going to kind of stay the course.”

Last October, the offensive line situation looked pretty dire, too. But Texas rallied down the stretch and ended up with two five-star signees and seven new linemen overall.

The Manning recruitment is way more high-profile, and multiple other five-star recruits are watching how it unfolds.

Sarkisian has shown zero hesitancy to chase after talented players, regardless of how it might affect the current roster. For example, Texas coaches probably felt good about a starting receiver lineup with Xavier Worthy, Isaiah Neyor and Jordan Whittington. But the Horns still went hard after Pitt transfer Jordan Addison, last season’s Biletnikoff Award winner.

“How they feel matters,” Sarkisian told the American-Statesman in Fort Worth at another Texas Fight Tour stop May 12. “But at the end of the day, everybody wants to win.”

Sarkisian said he stresses to players that team success is what leads to individual accolades.

“Really trying to instill that in our players that’s what it’s about, and I think our guys are starting to understand that,” Sarkisian said.

Addison announced Friday that he was choosing USC, and Texas was the runner-up.

Name, image and likeness opportunities — or “buying players,” if you will — were at the crux of the Nick Saban-Jimbo Fisher war of words last week. And maybe NIL factored into Addison’s decision to pick USC.

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But does anyone really think a player of Manning’s stature is picking schools solely based on NIL opportunities? Peyton and Eli Manning’s nephew will have a boatload of offers no matter where he lands.

Arch Manning is looking toward a long NFL career, not what he can get in August 2023 from Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.

Viewed through that prism, Manning’s decision becomes all about getting set up for long-term success. This is where Sarkisian must sell his offense and his vision for the Longhorns.

Part of that vision is how he manages the quarterback room.

“The quarterback recruitment is always a little bit delicate, right?” Sarkisian said Wednesday. “I think the natural theory is you take one guy a year.”

Everything about the quarterback position is delicate, especially now in the transfer portal era.

Sarkisian pointed out how desperate Texas would be if the Horns hadn't signed Ohio State transfer Quinn Ewers and high school prospect Maalik Murphy. “We’d be in a pretty dire situation,” he said.

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Well, if Texas hadn’t pursued and landed Ewers, veteran Casey Thompson probably wouldn’t have transferred to Nebraska. His father, Charles, told the Statesman last December, “Sometimes you’ve got to know when you need to find something better.”

Without Ewers at UT, Thompson would’ve probably stayed and battled Hudson Card for the starting role again in 2022. But with Card, Ewers and Murphy now in the room, practically everyone inside the program believes it was upgraded.

So when will Sarkisian name a starter? Again, it’s delicate.

“I don’t know,” he told the Statesman on May 12. “You know, I think that earlier is always better when you’re right and it’s right for the team. But I just don’t think that we’re in a space right now to do that.”

Sarkisian is excited about the new NCAA rule changes that allow coaches to work directly with players during the summer. In eight weeks in June and July, Sarkisian gets two hours per week to work with players. “That’s 16 hours of on-field training that I didn’t get a year ago that I get this year, so maybe (the decision) could come a little sooner than it did a year ago.”

Sarkisian said he’ll spend two days in Los Angeles with Rams coach Sean McVay to see how Texas can “find a few more touchdowns” this season, too.

All indications are Manning wants to make a decision before starting his senior year at Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans. None of the major recruiting services has pegged any sort of timetable on when a decision might come. It could be after his three visits; it could be just before early signing day in December.

Still, Sarkisian believes in signing one quarterback each year. He’d sure like it to be Manning for 2023.

“But again, every year is different,” Sarkisian said. “Circumstances arise, injuries, transfers, things pop up to where maybe you have to take a transfer, maybe you have to take two high school kids. But I think the ideal format for us is one a year. I think that's when we recruit our best.

“And that’s when we develop the relationships not only from a recruitment standpoint,” he said, “but those relationships carry over to the development of the player when we get him and when he’s on our roster.”

Contact Brian Davis by phone or text at 512-445-3957. Email bdavis@statesman.com or follow on Twitter via @BDavisAAS.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas focused on Arch Manning in ‘delicate’ QB recruiting race