Manning, who left last Saturday’s game against Mississippi State with an apparent head injury in overtime, remains in concussion protocol, Sarkisian added.
When asked earlier this week about his timeline for deciding whether or not Manning could start, Sarkisian said it was “up to the doctors.”
Backup Matthew Caldwell entered last week’s game for Manning and threw the winning touchdown to Emmett Mosley V in overtime. A transfer from Troy who has also played for Gardner Webb and Jacksonville State, Caldwell has started one game against a power conference team in his career. Texas hosts No. 9 Vanderbilt 11 a.m. Saturday at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
Sarkisian also said safety Michael Taaffe had been practicing for the past two days. The senior All-American missed last week’s game with what was reported to be a thumb injury, wearing a cast on his hand.
With Taaffe sidelined, the Longhorns gave up a season-high 382 passing yards and 38 points to Blake Shapen and the Bulldogs. Sarkisian said he believed Texas struggled with Mississippi State’s wide splits and failed to rush the passer effectively enough to support an undermanned secondary. Redshirt freshman Xavier Filsaime got the majority of the snaps in Taaffe’s place.
“Naturally, when you don’t have a player of Michael’s caliber, you’re going to miss him,” Sarkisian said. “You’re going to miss the communication. You’re going to miss the play-making ability. You’re going to miss his ability to fix issues in real time as they’re happening on the field and not have to wait to get to the bench to fix it.”
Vanderbilt ranks 13th in the SEC in passing yards per game with 230.3, but, as a unit, the Commodores are one of the most efficient offenses in the country. Averaging 7.21 yards per play, Vanderbilt sits seventh in the nation and second in the SEC behind only Arkansas.
Firmer injury designations for Manning and Taaffe will be issued Wednesday night, when the SEC distributes its weekly availability report.