Fox lead college football analyst Joel Klatt discussed the Texas Longhorns QB situation at the beginning of his weekend recap on the Joel Klatt Show Monday.
Klatt said one of the reasons he thinks Texas is such an elite team is the Longhorns depth. Part of of that depth is at QB.
“Some of that was an assumption. We think that Arch Manning is going to be good, and a lot of that has to do with his last name. But this was really the first time we got to see it. See him have the entire offense at his disposal. See him run the offense with Sark being Uber aggressive calling plays. See him being able to run on the edge. I tell you what, all that did for me was solidify the fact that Texas is one of the best teams in the country.” — Joel Klatt
In his weekly Top 10, Klatt ranked Texas No. 1. It’s the same ranking Texas has in the latest AP Poll. Texas is No. 2 in the US LBM Coaches Poll.
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Klatt went more in depth in his thoughts about Texas’ wealth at the quarterback position.
“Oh yeah, they’re going to be just fine. In fact, you could probably make an argument that Manning might be even more talented than Ewers, even though Ewers clearly has the experience edge over Manning. So you could make an argument that they’re not going to miss a beat. Even if their starting quarterback goes down. And that’s a quarterback that I still believe is going to wind up in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.” — Joel Klatt
One that that really impressed Klatt was Manning’s speed, which we’ve seen glimpses of, but not to the level we did against UTSA.
“What we saw from Manning, particularly running the football, was something I didn’t think he had in him. That was something pretty special. That long run was the longest touchdown run by a quarterback since Vince Young. That’s saying something, because Colt McCoy was damn good. … If you’re running over 20.5 miles per hour, hitting 21 miles per hour, some guys that are really fast can hit 22, 22.5 maybe even close to 23. Arch basically hit 21 miles per hour on his touchdown run. That blows my mind. Blows my mind! That’s like fast, fast. Not just regular ‘oh yeah, he can run.’ That’s fast, fast.” — Joel Klatt
The Fox analyst things this is a great situation for Texas coach Steve Sarkisian.
“Sark has to think, ‘I’m good.’ … Sark doesn’t have to rush Ewers back. He can make sure he’s completely healthy. … They’ve got all this time to get him back for Red River then they’ve got Georgia the following week.” — Joel Klatt
So is there a QB controversy? Klatt doesn’t think there is any controversy.
“I don’t believe this is a quarterback controversy, but I do believe this is where people are going to go. Particularly, from a narrative standpoint. And in particular there. Because, let’s face it, a lot of people around Texas love to have an opinion. I’m glad, in this case, that Sark is unwavered by people’s opinion about him or his program. … If Quinn isn’t effective, he’s got a legitimate option. This is a win-win situation for Steve Sarkisian.” — Joel Klatt