With Texas football\u2019s season opener just over a week away, it is hard to believe that this is the beginning of the end of the Arch Manning era at Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The senior is entering his fourth season with the Longhorns and second as the starter. With Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff aspirations, it will likely be his final season in Austin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Manning\u2019s first season as the starter was not perfect, he began to find his stride and develop more consistency towards the back end of the season. After several seasons developing in the program, Manning knows the offense like the back of his hand. He underwent a minor foot surgery in the offseason that kept him out of spring practice, but he returned to fall camp fully healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With a year of starting experience, an arsenal of offensive weapons and strong leadership qualities, Manning is expected to take significant strides this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had a great camp, man,\u201d head coach Steve Sarkisian said. \u201cI\u2019m really pumped about it, I think his rapport with Ryan and Cam and Emmett is really high. I think his rapport with our running backs is really high. I\u2019m very excited \u2026 I think he\u2019s going to play really well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Manning is the unquestioned starter and centerpiece of the team, Sarkisian is preparing the quarterback room for both the near and distant future, in case Manning sustains an injury during the season.<\/p>\n
Sophomore Karle \u201cKJ\u201d Lacey Jr. is the clear backup to Manning. Lacey Jr. was the third-string quarterback last season behind former Longhorn Matthew Caldwell and saw game action against Sam Houston State. A four-star recruit out of high school, Lacey Jr. was ranked the No. 18
quarterback recruit in his class by On3. He will provide necessary depth while continuing to learn under Manning while competing for reps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarkisian noted Lacey Jr. \u2018s intensity and work ethic during scrimmages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for KJ, he continues to show us his gamer mentality,\u201d Sarkisian said in a media availability. \u201cWhen we go to play football that guy is at his best, I\u2019d much rather have that progression where they get better as practice goes. \u2026 I always feel like KJ is at his best when we scrimmage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The third-string this season is true freshman Dia Bell, a highly touted five-star recruit out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Bell was ranked the No. 5 quarterback in the class of 2026 by 247Sports. Bell was an early enrollee in the spring and is expected to spend the season learning Sarkisian\u2019s offense and developing to potentially compete for the starting job in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bell had an excellent fall camp and is developing well according to Sarkisian, who was impressed with Bell\u2019s intrinsic ball skills and leadership qualities despite being a freshman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say Dia is as far along or maybe even further along than anybody we\u2019ve had in that role,\u201d Sarkisian said in an Aug. 17 media availability. \u201cThat\u2019s a credit to him. This guy has got an innate feel for the game, he is a natural passer, he\u2019s got great leadership qualities and he\u2019s instinctual.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rounding out the room is fifth- year transfer MJ Morris, who arrived from Coastal Carolina. Morris is undoubtedly the most experienced back up, with previous stops at Maryland and NC State. His starting experience at the Power Four level could prove valuable if he is called upon, while also giving the younger quarterbacks an experienced player to learn from.<\/p>\n
Texas football kicks off its season against Texas State Sept. 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Texas football\u2019s season opener just over a week away, it is hard to believe that this is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-419143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}