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Texas quarterback Arch Manning is reeling after the Longhorns fell to a second straight loss, leading to rumors that he could be benched and rising concern about his NFL prospects.
Manning struggled in Saturday’s stunning loss to Florida, the team’s second straight loss to an unranked opponent. The former top high school prospect fumbled on his team’s final drive, blowing a chance to tie or take the lead.
After Saturday’s 27-24 loss, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian hinted that he would be evaluating all players on the team, including Manning.
“I just felt like we didn’t play good offensive football and we’re not playing great offensive football right now. So everything is going to be evaluated,” Sarkisian said, via NBC Sports.
When asked if that meant Manning could be benched, the Texas head coach said that was a possibility.
“Everything means everything,” Sarkisian replied.
Bleacher Report’s Adam Kramer suggested that Manning could have an even murkier future beyond this season, when he could head off to the NFL but likely as a low-level developmental prospect.
“For Manning, it’s difficult to know where to go from here. After the season, he could go to the NFL,” Kramer wrote. “Given what we’ve seen, he’d likely be nothing more than a project on a quarterback-desperate franchise.”
Kramer added that Manning would likely not be able to climb back up to his previous spot on mock NFL draft boards.
“The days of him being a surefire top five pick have quickly faded. And it seems unlikely we’ll ever return to that point again,” Kramer wrote.
Even before Saturday’s rough performance, Sarkisian had offered a bit of perspective for the pressure that Manning faces. The Texas coach noted that his famous lineage — as the nephew of star NFL quarterback Peyton and Eli Manning — created high expectations.
“I think if you took the name off the back of his jersey and you said, ‘Here’s Joe Smith playing quarterback at the University of Texas and here’s a guy who’s beaten four top-10 ranked teams in his last 13 starts,’ we’d be praising the guy,” Sarkisian said. “But the expectations are high for him, and he understands that.”
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