Texas coach Steve Sarkisian confirmed Thursday that redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy will start at quarterback over Arch Manning when the No. 7 Longhorns host BYU on Saturday. Murphy will take the snaps in place of Quinn Ewers after the Texas starter suffered a sprained shoulder in last week's win over Houston.
"Today was Maalik's best day of practice since he's been at Texas," Sarkisian said Thursday.
Murphy will start ahead of true freshman Arch Manning, the No. 1 overall player in the Class of 2023, according to 247Sports. Sarkisian said that he is unsure whether or how he will use his Manning, the grandson of College Football Hall of Famer Archie Manning.
"I haven't made the call as to whether we would want to get Arch in there on Saturday [to get experience]. We have discussed that some because I think there's value in that, but it has to be in the best interest of the team, and we haven't decided that yet," Sarkisian added.
Murphy completed 1 of 2 passes for 7 yards in last week's 31-24 win over Houston. The 6-foot-5, 238-pound dual-threat signal-caller from Inglewood, California, is 4 of 8 for 47 yards passing in four games. He was a four-star prospect and No. 197 overall player in the Class of 2022 out of Junipero Serra High School, per 247Sports.
Sarkisian praised Murphy after the season opener vs. Rice saying Murphy showed more consistency in the passing game during practice.
"[Murphy]'s always had the highlight plays, but then there's been plays that were not-so-highlight in taking care of the football," Sarkisian said at the time. "I think he's done a much better job of doing that. Clearly, I think we saw glimpses of some of the throws that he was able to make in that ballgame last week."
Sarkisian suggested after the opener that the initial plan was to redshirt Manning this season.
"Quite frankly, I had all intentions of playing Arch in that game," Sarkisian said. "I didn't think that the fourth quarter would go as fast as it did, and then I didn't want to put him in there for the last minute and a half and use a game on that."
College football players can receive redshirts if they play in four or fewer games in a season. Manning has yet to throw a pass in 2023.
The Longhorns only have five regular-season games left, so it's possible that Sarkisian will still use Manning if Murphy struggles -- or Texas puts games to bed early -- and Ewers can't return. If that happens, it will allow the staff to determine who should take the snaps if Ewers remains sidelined while the Longhorns enter the postseason.
