Legendary Florida Gators coach Steve Spurrier during a ribbon cutting at his new restaurant Spurrier's Gridiron Grille. Brad McClenny / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Steve Spurrier Has Doubts About Texas Longhorns' Arch Manning

Originally posted on Texas Longhorns on SI
By Jon Alfano | Last updated Jun 24, 2025 8:52 PM ET

The Arch Manning era is finally in full swing, yet it seems like some watching the Texas Longhorns from the outside have the same question: what took so long?

Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning and grandson of Archie Manning, spent the past two seasons as a backup to Quinn Ewers. He started a couple of games while Ewers dealt with injury, but never surpassed him on the depth chart despite the latter's struggles throughout the season.

With Ewers falling to the seventh round of the NFL Draft, some pundits have questioned why Manning never took the starting job. The latest of those pundits is none other than legendary coach Steve Spurrier, who dropped his take on his "Another Dooley Noted Podcast."

“People picking Texas to win the SEC in football,” Spurrier said. “They’ve got Arch Manning already winning the Heisman, too. And my question is, if he was this good, how come they let Quinn Ewers play all the time last year?“

This is basically the same point that former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray made a month ago on SiriusXM.

“So all in all, Quinn Ewers had a disappointing season, and it reflected in his draft stock,” Murray said. “If you are so good and everyone has you projected number one pick in the NFL Draft, come 2026, why in the hell are you not playing above a seventh-round quarterback? If Steve Sarkisian knows what he’s doing and he knows how good their roster is, which I’ve talked to a lot of coaches and a lot of different teams and I asked them, like, what are the top rosters? Ohio State, Texas, probably Georgia.

"What was holding them back? Quinn Ewers. Why was Arch not playing? It’s like that rubs me the wrong way a little bit.”

Once again, though, coaches will usually give the more experienced quarterback the benefit of the doubt. One can certainly argue that head coach Steve Sarkisian gave Ewers too long of a leash, and if that approach ended up costing the Longhorns, but with all that the quarterback had accomplished in Austin, it's understandable why he did.

At the very least, these comments should give Manning an additional chip on his shoulder this fall.

This article first appeared on Texas Longhorns on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: