Sark: Ewers, Manning in competition for QB job
After the Texas Longhorns‘ first spring practice, coach Steve Sarkisian said on Monday that all positions are up for grabs, including quarterback, where sophomore Quinn Ewers and freshman Arch Manning will compete for the starting job.
“I’m not worried about who’s going to be on the cover of what magazine next week,” Sarkisian said. “I’m more focused on is, is each guy focusing on what they need to do to develop to be the best player that they can be? Quinn has an entire year of a head start, but I don’t want to hold Arch back. I want to see how far he can take this thing and what it can look like.”
Both were highly coveted recruits, with Ewers ranked as the No. 2 player in the 2021 ESPN 300 and Manning — one of the most high-profile recruits in history — at No. 5 in the 2023 edition.
Ewers arrived last season as a transfer from Ohio State; started 10 games, throwing for 2,177 yards and 15 touchdowns with six interceptions; and was named the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year. He struggled in stretches of the season but closed strong, going 31-of-47 for 369 yards and a TD against Washington in the Alamo Bowl, and he finished the season with 116 straight passes without an interception.
Still, Sarkisian said the passing game has to improve this season, and he’s aware of the huge spotlight on his QB derby. Sarkisian noted the reaction on social media when Ewers cut his trademark mullet this offseason, saying the two had spoken about how sometimes your appearance creates a perception about you.
“All of a sudden, now the guy gets a haircut and cleans his beard up a little bit and everyone thinks Quinn’s real serious right now,” Sarkisian said. “But that’s human nature. It’s never been a question of him taking this serious. He wants to be really good. He wants to be a leader on this team. He wants to win a championship with these guys. And that doesn’t change what he does day to day, but appearance is what it is. And so I do think him recognizing that shows some maturity.”
Sarkisian said that Ewers has become a more vocal presence this offseason.
“I think what he’s done, he’s serving for Arch and, ‘Hey, this is what it looks like,'” Sarkisian said. “‘And this is how to go about your business.'”
Sarkisian mentioned, similarly, the attention Manning got earlier this year when he twice lost his student ID and other students shared it on social media, and cautioned that it’s a reminder that Manning is a freshman who still should technically be in high school, despite the excitement around his signing and his name.
“For Arch today, Day 1, there’s some plays for sure that he would love to have back,” Sarkisian said. “There’s some other plays that he made where I think everybody was like, ‘Wow, that was a heck of a play.’ But he brings a worker’s mentality and he wants to be really good at this game.”
Sarkisian also revealed that wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who had a bit of a disappointing sophomore season with 760 yards and nine touchdowns (58.8 yards per game) after a breakout freshman year in which he had 981 yards and 12 TDs, played with a broken hand for about half the season last year.
“Anytime you’re a receiver and you’re playing with a broken hand, that’s a pretty important aspect of your game, and that guy never wanted to sit out, not play,” Sarkisian said, noting that he didn’t reveal it so opponents didn’t know. “He came to work. He fought through it. There were days in practice where we purposely didn’t throw him balls just to take some of the pressure off of it. But I think we’re going to see a version of Xavier Worthy that’s going to be dramatically different now that he’s healthy.”
Monday also brought a new look in the backfield, with Texas seeking replacements for running backs Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson, fixtures for the Longhorns the past few years.
On Monday, Jaydon Blue took first-team reps and freshman Cedric Baxter Jr. also was in the rotation. Sarkisian said running backs Jonathon Brooks (offseason hernia surgery) and Keilan Robinson (muscle strain) were both held out while they recover.
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Adam Rittenberg
BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he feels “healthy and vibrant” after returning to the field for preseason practices after undergoing surgery to remove his bladder after a cancerous tumor was found.
Sanders, 57, said he has been walking at least a mile around campus following Colorado’s practices, which began last week. He was away from the team for the late spring and early summer following the surgery in May. Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, said July 30 that Sanders, who lost about 25 pounds during his recovery, is “cured of cancer.”
“I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m my old self,” Sanders said. “I’m loving life right now. I’m trying my best to live to the fullest, considering what transpired.”
Sanders credited Colorado’s assistant coaches and support staff for overseeing the program during his absence. The Pro Football Hall of Famer enters his third season as Buffaloes coach this fall.
“They’ve given me tremendous comfort,” Sanders said. “I never had to call 100 times and check on the house, because I felt like the house is going to be OK. That’s why you try your best to hire correct, so you don’t have to check on the house night and day. They did a good job, especially strength and conditioning.”
Colorado improved from four to nine wins in Sanders’ second season, but the team loses Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft, as well as record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes have an influx of new players, including quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis, who are competing for the starting job, as well as new staff members such as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who is coaching the Buffaloes’ running backs.
Despite the changes and his own health challenges, Deion Sanders expects Colorado to continue ascending. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 when they host Georgia Tech.
“The next phase is we’re going to win differently, but we’re going to win,” Sanders said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, but it’s going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football.”
Sanders said it will feel “a little weird, a little strange” to not be coaching Shedeur when the quarterback starts his first NFL preseason game for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night at Carolina. Deion Sanders said he and Shedeur had spoken several times Friday morning. Despite being projected as a top quarterback in the draft, Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round.
“A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game, he’s approaching like a game, and that’s how he’s always approached everything, to prepare and approach it like this is it,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. He don’t get covered in, you know, all the rhetoric in the media.
“Some of the stuff is just ignorant. Some of it is really adolescent, he far surpasses that, and I can’t wait to see him play.”
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Adam Rittenberg
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier aggravated the patellar tendinitis he has been dealing with in his knee but will not miss any significant time, coach Brian Kelly said Friday.
Kelly dropped in ahead of a news conference Friday with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to tell reporters that Nussmeier did not suffer a severe knee injury or even a new one. According to Kelly, Nussmeier has chronic tendinitis in his knee and “probably just planted the wrong way” during Wednesday’s practice.
Nussmeier ranked fifth nationally in passing yards (4,052) last season, his first as LSU’s starter, and projects as an NFL first-round draft pick in 2026.
“It’s not torn, there’s no fraying, there’s none of that,” Kelly said. “This is preexisting. … There’s nothing to really see on film with it, but it pissed it off. He aggravated it a little bit, but he’s good to go.”
Kelly said Nussmeier’s injury ranks 1.5 out of 10 in terms of severity. Asked whether it’s the right or left knee, Kelly said he didn’t know, adding, “It’s not a serious injury. Guys are dealing with tendinitis virtually every day in life.”
LSU opens the season Aug. 30 at Clemson.
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