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Steve Sarkisian on talks around Arch Manning's health: "People are overreacting way too much to this"

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook04/29/26josephcook89

During a recent one-on-one interview with On3’s Chris Low, Texas quarterback Arch Manning revealed that he injured his foot in the Longhorns’ 2024 win over Texas A&M in Kyle Field. The specific play was his 15-yard touchdown run to open scoring in the return of the Lone Star Showdown.

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Manning played in spurts during Texas’ run to the 2024 College Football Playoff and took over as starter following the end of the season. Yet he didn’t opt to repair the issue until after the 2025 campaign. As a result, Manning was somewhat limited during Texas’ recent spring practices and was held out of nearly all full-team periods while still getting opportunities in 7-on-7 and during portions of practice with routes on air.

The idea of the Longhorns starting quarterback, and Manning specifically, needing surgery became a hot topic in college football circles. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian thought there was way too much made of the procedure, as he explained to Craig Way on Tuesday on AM 1300 The Zone in Austin.

“I’d say on Arch in general, because I’ve heard some of the sentiment you’ve heard, people are overreacting way too much to this,” Sarkisian said. “The guy had a foot issue that we had to get fixed that we didn’t want to do last year right before the season and/or during the season. So we waited until after the season. He could have been back in spring practice probably in week three. But he’s in year four in our system, so him throwing 7-on-7, him throwing routes on air, that getting KJ (Lacey), Dia (Bell), and MJ (Morris) more opportunities to get accustomed to playing systematically for us. Rest assured, Arch Manning is fine. He looks great.”

Manning was not the only player to undergo an offseason procedure. Texas announced in January that Manning along with Xavier Filsaime (shoulder), Trevor Goosby (shoulder), Emmett Mosley V (ankle), Ty’Anthony Smith (shoulder), and Ryan Wingo (wrist) had offseason operations. At the time, Texas said they expected all to be back 100 percent by the start of the season. Many of those players also returned in some form to spring practices, many like Manning held out of full-team periods.

Additionally wide receiver Kaliq Lockett and offensive lineman Kaden Scherer suffered lower leg injuries in spring that required surgery. Sarkisian said everyone who is on the mend is on track in their recoveries.

“The overall health has been great,” Sarkisian said. “We haven’t had one setback with a player, and that’s always a concern when you’ve got players coming off of end-of-season surgeries or even a couple of guys that did get nicked up in spring practice. That’s the first part that’s a positive. Everybody is on par or on course with where they should be from a recovery standpoint. That’s been terrific.”

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