Legendary Gators Coach Questions Heisman Hopeful QB

Ahead of a season where the Florida Gators will host a Texas Longhorns team with high expectations, legendary Florida head coach Steve Spurrier has questions about the Longhorns' popular Heisman hopeful quarterback, Arch Manning.

“Most people are picking Texas to win the SEC in football. They’ve got Arch Manning already winning the Heisman, too,” Spurrier said on a recent appearance the Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “My question is, if he was this good, how come they let Quinn Ewers play all the time last year? He was a seventh-round pick.”

Manning, a redshirt freshman last season, played 233 snaps in 2024, with just 75 coming in games Quinn Ewers was healthy. Against Florida, he saw 28 snaps in a blowout win, completing three passes for 19 yards. Regardless of his inexperience, he is considered one of the favorites for the Heisman Trophy next season.

Though the former five-star recruit has been seen as the future for the Longhorns since making it to campus two years ago, Texas decided to stick with a struggling Ewers last season despite reports that he was playing through a torn oblique for much of the year. The junior passed for over 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns, yet threw at least one interception in each of his final five games with the program, spanning into a College Football Playoff appearance.

“You’d only have to ask coach Sark ‘how come you played this one over that one?’ and hopefully he would say ‘cause we thought he was better than that one,’” Spurrier said. “Isn’t that why you play one guy and not the other?”

In his time at Florida, Spurrier was no stranger to riding the hot hand at quarterback, with the most notable occasion being when he switched Doug Johnson and Noah Brindise on almost every play in a win against No. 1 Florida State in 1997. All these years later, his opinion remains unchanged.

“One guy struggling? Give the other guy a chance,” Spurrier said. “The one you think is the best, let him go, and if he struggles? Put the next one in.”

Just last season, the Gators somewhat put his ideology to use, rotating Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway in multiple games. From the very start, Spurrier's opinion was consistent.

“I don’t know who is going to start or whatever, but he needs to play. How much? Well, see,” Spurrier said about the freshman Lagway after his first career start against Samford. “Mertz has been here with all these guys a little longer, so if he starts the game and all this, that, and the other, maybe everybody’s happy and away we go…but obviously, DJ Lagway’s going to play a whole bunch the rest of the season.”

Though Spurrier is no longer with the program, his presence will always be associated with the Florida Gators, likely making their schedule matchup against Manning and Texas on October 4 in the Swamp just a little more exciting this season.

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