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How Arch Manning can bolster the Texas run game

WHAT'S THE STORY?

NCAA Football: Cotton Bowl-Ohio State at Texas
Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

“Whatever the game calls for.”

The response from Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian during an SEC Media Days scrum in response to a question about using the quarterback run game with new starter Arch Manning is the type of coachspeak that doesn’t typically deserve much note.

But for a play caller who has almost entirely eschewed that element of offensive football since coaching Jake Locker at Washington a decade and a half ago, it’s an important admission.

Sarkisian continued his response by

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noting that Texas has carried quarterback runs into games since his arrival on the Forty Acres in 2021.

“Even in the past, we’ve had various instances of quarterback runs. So when it was Hudson [Card], Casey [Thompson] back early on, even Quinn [Ewers], at different times. We probably would have done it a little bit more with Quinn had he been a little bit more healthy,” Sarkisian said.

According to the tracking by Pro Football Focus, Card kept the ball four times on zone reads in 2021 compared to nine for Thompson. Ewers had one in 2022, three in 2023, and two in 2024, numbers that were significantly suppressed by shoulder injuries in each of his first two seasons and oblique and ankle injuries last year.

So it’s been a limited part of the playbook for Sarkisian mostly used in short-yardage situations, including on the goal line.

Against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, Texas scored its final touchdown on the first zone read called for Ewers last year that included tight end Gunnar Helm and wide receiver DeAndre Moore both crossing the formation as arc blockers for Ewers on a 2nd-and-goal conversion from the 1-yard line.

One of the biggest runs by Ewers in 2024 — and the second of his two zone-read carries — came late in the game against Arkansas in Fayetteville as Texas tried to kill the clock on a 20-10 win. Facing a 4th and 2 with 2:24 remaining, the Longhorns forced the Razorbacks to call their final timeout needing a first down to end the game.

As the offensive line blocked inside zone, the read defender crashed the play and Ewers was able to pull the football, running behind a block from tight end Gunnar Helm and finishing the play with as much physicality as he could muster to secure a three-yard gain and the critical first down.

Manning presents a different profile than Ewers — Manning is listed as two inches taller and five pounds heavier, but he’s also faster than Ewers and more powerful in the lower body.

“Arch obviously possesses that athleticism, that physicality,” Sarkisian said. “We’ll probably never major in that, but there may be a game when that’s required and our job’s to try to walk out of every stadium with the W. Whatever that is needed that day, we’ll try to execute and get it done, but he does give us that flexibility to do some different things.”

Manning flashed his upside as a runner with a 67-yard touchdown run against UTSA after Ewers aggravated his oblique injury, hitting a top speed of 20.7 miles per hour on the longest touchdown run by a Longhorns quarterback since Vince Young’s iconic pump fake freed up an 80-yard score against the Cowboys in 20025.

The game situation reflects the timing of when Sarkisian might choose to call read options for Manning — it was 2nd and 2 in Texas territory with a two-touchdown lead and no need to try to get aggressive with a play-action pass.

The read for Manning was the edge defender as the offensive line blocked for outside zone, not just the staple running play for the Longhorns, but one that stretches wide enough to get linebackers flowing.

Both inside linebackers tracked the running back and the read defender bit hard, too, allowing Manning to quickly get to the safety in the hole behind a good block from wide receiver Matthew Golden.

Manning made the safety miss with a nifty move in the open field and accelerated to the end zone on one of the most electric runs by a Texas quarterback since the Vince Young and Colt McCoy eras.

Playing behind a porous offensive line at Isidore Newman in high school, Manning frequently used his athleticism to extend plays to throw the ball down field, but his fluidity and speed as a runner against UTSA came as a surprise.

And combined with the injury issues for Ewers, Manning’s physicality led Sarkisian to install a short-yardage running package that produced three zone reads for Manning and 11 total carries over the season’s final five games.

The most notable was the opening touchdown against Texas A&M, an inside zone call with a read for Manning behind H-back Juan Davis as an insert blocker. Able to take the edge behind a strong block from Helm, Manning showed off his contact balance by running through an arm tackle attempt and maintaining his feet just long enough to dive for the end zone.

Manning’s lone run in the semifinal loss to Ohio State on 4th and 1 from midfield late in the second quarter featured a fake sneak for Helm with Manning running a sweep off the right side behind three blockers.

The conversion helped set up a late touchdown for the Horns that was immediately negated by Treveyon Henderson’s shocking touchdown on a running back screen prior to halftime.

Heading into the 2025 season, Manning is still fielding questions about whether he suffered a concussion on that play, a pertinent question because he didn’t appear during the game’s other decisive sequence — the infamous 2nd and goal pitch play that led to consecutive sacks and the game-sealing fumble return for a touchdown by Jack Sawyer.

So the hope is that Sarkisian’s “whatever the game calls for” mentality will look different in those critical goal-line situations with Manning behind center after both semifinal losses featured defining red-zone failures and the 63.8-percent red-zone touchdown rate in 2024 still standing as inadequate given the program’s aspirations.

In a small red-zone sample size last year for Manning, the touchdown run against A&M represented his high point as nine carries produced 15 yards and three touchdowns with two coming on quarterback sneaks.

This season, teams will be more prepared for the threat of Manning’s legs than the Roadrunners were after prepping for Ewers all week, but just the threat of Manning pulling a zone read will force defenses to play outside zone differently, which should help the running backs find more consistent seams to produce big plays.

And, working in concert with run-pass options, the possibility of Texas using the quarterback run game puts more pressure on defenses to identify whether a play is a quarterback read option or a run-pass option, putting them into the type of conflicts that can result is busted assignments or slow reads.

So even if Manning only narrowly surpasses the number of zone reads by Thompson in 2021, he’s already proven that he can create big plays in those situations and will at the least force defenses into making difficult choices about how to stop the Texas option game.

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