Whether the No. 20 Texas Longhorns have redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning available for Saturday’s home game against the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores will be a game-time decision, according to
a report from On3’s Pete Nakos on Friday.
Manning is in concussion protocol after suffering a hit to the head on the first play of overtime in last Saturday’s overtime win over Mississippi State in Starkville. And although Manning did not practice on Monday and Tuesday, he was able to return to practice on Wednesday and Thursday despite remaining in the protocol.
“I don’t have anything beyond that for Arch, just because we have to follow the protocol of the days and the reps, But Arch is making good progress,” Sarkisian said on Thursday.
The Texas starter was listed as questionable on the Wednesday and Thursday injury reports released by the Longhorns.
In the comeback against the Bulldogs, Manning set a career high with 346 passing yards while throwing three touchdowns on 29-of-46 passing (63 percent), helping to engineer the comeback from two 17-point deficits with a gritty performance.
“He’s a warrior — he stood in there, he competed like he always does, and there were a couple protection breakdowns for sure in the game, which we need to clean up, but there were a couple others where he knew he was going to get hit, and he stood in the pocket and delivered a ball and delivered an accurate ball. So that was all very positive,” Sarkisian said on Monday.
