Sarkisian's announcement means fans must wait for Manning era

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Steve Sarkisian's spring game announcement means fans must wait for beginning of the Arch Manning era

By Eric Smithling | Last updated Feb 20, 2025 1:37 PM ET

Texas fans wanting to see quarterback Arch Manning run the first-team offense won't get the opportunity this spring.

On Thursday, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian appeared on the "Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams" and told host Kay Adams that his team won't hold a spring game at the end of its April practice session.

Last year, an estimated 40,000 people attended the Texas spring game, according to CBS Sports.

"We're not gonna have a spring game," Sarkisian said. "A couple of reasons why. Over the last two years, we've played 30 games. That's a lot for college football. We've got a lot of young players on our roster. We have 21 mid-year high-school kids that just showed up."

.@CoachSark announces that @TexasFootball won't be having a Spring game this year @heykayadams | #HookEm pic.twitter.com/KzONTjxYiQ
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) February 20, 2025

Sarkisian's decision also removes what would have been a media firestorm from his plate. Manning, the nephew of former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, is slated to take over as the team's starting quarterback after backing up Quinn Ewers from 2023-24.

Manning was the No. 1 overall recruit of the 2023 high-school class and started two games in 2024 as Ewers nursed an abdominal injury.

He won both times, going 41-of-60 (68.3 percent) and throwing for 583 yards (9.7 yards per attempt), four touchdowns and two interceptions.

Sarkisian's decision to cancel the Longhorns' spring game follows Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule's decision to do the same in Lincoln. It could be the start of a larger trend.

As Rhule said when explaining his decision in early February, with the spring transfer portal window, the spring game is an invitation for rival universities to poach players.

"The word 'tampering' doesn't exist anymore," Rhule said. "I don't necessarily want to open up the outside world and just have people watch our guys and say, '...Let's go get him.'" (h/t Associated Press)

Texas is coming off its second consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals. It was one of four teams to make the CFP in 2023 and won two games in the expanded 12-team playoff to reach the semis in 2024.

Texas enters the 2025 season with plenty of hype. All eyes would have been on the program's spring game. On Thursday, Sarkisian told everyone to look elsewhere.

Eric Smithling

Eric Smithling is a writer based in New Orleans, LA, whose byline also appears on Athlon Sports. He has been with Yardbarker since September 2022, primarily covering the NFL and college football, but also the NBA, WNBA, men’s and women’s college basketball, NHL, tennis and golf. He holds a film studies degree from the University of New Orleans

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