{"id":470691,"date":"2026-10-19T17:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/470691\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T17:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:18:08","slug":"texas-longhorns-take-first-step-toward-benching-arch-manning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/470691\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Longhorns Take First Step Toward Benching Arch Manning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-24141673\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Arch-Manning.jpg\" alt=\"Oct 17, 2026; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) warms up before a game against the Florida Gators at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Scott Wachter-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oct 17, 2026; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) warms up before a game against the Florida Gators at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Two months ago,\u00a0Texas Longhorns\u00a0quarterback\u00a0Arch Manning\u00a0was the No. 1 quarterback in several 2027 mock NFL Drafts. Now, after back-to-back ugly losses to rival Oklahoma and Florida, Manning\u2019s grasp on the starting job in Austin looks tenuous as best.<\/p>\n<p>Manning\u2019s raw numbers in the losses don\u2019t look awful. He\u2019s 33-of-51 for 423 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions. But the turnovers have also come at the worst possible time, including a back-breaking fumble toward the end of the Florida game that all but handed the victory to the Gators.<\/p>\n<p>Afterward, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was clear that he planned to asses every option going forward, including a potential change at quarterback.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">\u201cEverything\u2019s going to be evaluated,\u201d Sarkisian said.\u00a0\u201cEverything means everything. It would be easy for me to say, \u2018Hey, Arch was the problem today.\u2019 Was Arch perfect? No. But nobody was perfect on offense today.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">\u201cWe\u2019re not playing very good football right now,\u201d he added. \u201cI have to evaluate everything. It\u2019s gonna be a long night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Sources: Texas is expected to give an up-tick in first-team quarterback reps to redshirt freshman KJ Lacey Jr. this week in practice. Arch Manning still projects as the Texas starter. The uptick in Lacey\u2019s reps is a signal that Texas could replace Manning if he continues to struggle.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeteThamel\/status\/2112185334532350207?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">October 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Texas Longhorns Set To Give KJ Lacey Some Of Arch Manning\u2019s Playing Time<\/p>\n<p>Sarkisian didn\u2019t immediately jump to benching Manning in favor of backup KJ Lacey. However, ESPN\u2019s Pete Thamel now reports that Lacey is expected to get more playing time going forward, making it a truly open competition between him and Manning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSources: Texas is expected to give an up-tick in first-team quarterback reps to redshirt freshman KJ Lacey Jr. this week in practice,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeteThamel\/status\/2112185334532350207\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thamel posted on X<\/a>. \u201cArch Manning still projects as the Texas starter. The uptick in Lacey\u2019s reps is a signal that Texas could replace Manning if he continues to struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lacey, a four-star recruit in the class of 2025, has just eight pass attempts this season. But he\u2019s completed seven of those eight attempts for 63 yards.<\/p>\n<p>Now it appears he\u2019ll have a chance to show what he can do in an expanded role. And if he continues to impress, Manning\u2019s job may well be in serious jeopardy.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scott Wachter-Imagn Images Oct 17, 2026; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) warms up before&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3230,132,134,133,261,537],"class_list":["post-470691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-arch-manning","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-college-football","tag-texas-longhorns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470691","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=470691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}