Texas coach Steve Sarkisian sees major growth from quarterback Arch Manning: ‘Wouldn’t trade him for the world’

HOUSTON – The arrow is definitely pointing up for University of Texas star quarterback Arch Manning.

Manning displayed toughness as a new starter last season for the Longhorns, overcoming a rough start and hasty bust labels for a passer with major upside.

Although Manning completed 61.4 percent of his throws for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns with seven interceptions and rushed for 399 yards and 10 touchdowns in a more than respectable overall performance in leading the Longhorns to a 10-3 record, he still faced plenty of criticism.

Inside the Longhorns’ program, though, they have witnessed serious progress from Manning. The New Orleans native and nephew of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player quarterback Eli Manning and the grandson of Hall of Fame quarterback Archie Manning has been fine-tuning his game throughout the offseason.

“The biggest thing that I’ve seen from Arch, fundamentally, he’s so much cleaner right now,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said during a Touchdown Club of Houston luncheon emceed by KPRC 2 Sports Director Randy McIlvoy. “He has really worked hard and that’s going to really help him from an accuracy standpoint, especially in the short to intermediate game, where that completion percentage can go up.”

Beyond the technical aspects of the game, Manning showed last year that he could endure big hits and heavy criticism.

He played through a painful right foot injury, affecting his plant foot while throwing that happened against Texas A&M and put off surgery.

The offensive line struggled at times. He was pressured a Southeastern Conference high 165 times. He was sacked 26 times, and avoided several potential sacks with fast footwork. He also dealt with receivers dropping 8.1 percent of his throws and a historically unproductive running game.

“The thing I think he learned about himself, he had some real adversity last year, and this guy found out about himself,” Sarkisian said. “And I think he found out about how physically tough he is, and I think his teammates did, too, and they credit him for that. All of your players that go to the draft, they always ask, ‘Who’s the toughest player on the team?’

“Every one of them said Arch Manning. Think about that for a second. The quarterback’s the toughest guy on the team, but that’s not only physical toughness, that’s mental toughness. And so I think you gotta have that grit at the quarterback position. He was a work in progress his entire time here. He’ll be a continued work in progress as we grow, but I wouldn’t trade him for the world, man. We’re fortunate to have him on our team this year. I think he’s poised for a big-time season.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com