There is a quarterback competition unfolding in Austin, as three battle for the title of Arch Manning‘s backup. Matthew Caldwell, KJ Lacey, and Trey Owens are candidates to be the primary Texas quarterback. To this point, Steve Sarkisian has not made a decision. He even admitted having a three-man race can be difficult. Obviously, Manning […]
There is a quarterback competition unfolding in Austin, as three battle for the title of Arch Manning‘s backup. Matthew Caldwell, KJ Lacey, and Trey Owens are candidates to be the primary Texas quarterback. To this point, Steve Sarkisian has not made a decision.
He even admitted having a three-man race can be difficult. Obviously, Manning is getting reps with starters as he prepares to be the full-time starter. Caldwell, Lacey, and Owens get thrown into different situations, with one thing Sarkisian is looking for above all.
“I think all the guys are doing good things,” Sarkisian said. “One of the challenges as a backup, especially when there’s three of you battling for it, I can only give so many reps so many ways. We’re trying to kind of rolodex them through with the twos and the threes. Even spotting them with the ones at times. I’m trying to see who can play consistent football.
Backup quarterback has been a massive position for Texas over the years. Quinn Ewers did not have the most consistent career when it came to his health, missing multi-game stretches all three seasons. Hudson Card came out of the bullpen in 2022, followed by Maalik Murphy the next year. And then Manning got a couple of starts as Ewers worked his way back.
Of the three, Caldwell is the only one with true college football experience. He transferred in from Troy after playing in 10 games, throwing for 1,608 yards, 13 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. A late addition out of the NCAA transfer portal for Texas.
Owens is a second-year player and got two appearances, both games where Manning got the majority of snaps due to Ewers’ injury. Sarkisian sent in the youngster for mop-up duty.
And then there is Lacy, a true freshman from Saraland (AL). Lacy was a four-star prospect, ranking as the No. 18 QB in the 2025 recruiting class according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
Everybody is hoping Manning gets through the 12-game season unscathed. However, being prepared is quite important. Even in a situation where a snap or two is needed in the season opener against Ohio State on Aug. 30. One more week remains for Sarkisian to officially make a decision.
“I think things are starting to shape themselves out, we’ll see,” Sarkisian said. “There’s another week to evaluate. Clearly, as we get into next week, we’ll have a pretty good idea, in our minds, if we need to go to a backup, what we would do, and how that would play out.”
Category: General Sports
