Texas didn’t just roll past Texas State on Saturday. In a 59-7 win, the Longhorns also got a first meaningful peek at what the quarterback room could look like once Arch Manning is gone.
Freshman KJ Lacey handled the second half and left with a solid stat line: 6 of 7 for 55 yards. More important than the numbers was the way he got there. He looked composed, stayed within the offense and made the kind of clean decisions Steve Sarkisian wants from a young quarterback.
Manning had already put the game out of reach by the time he exited. He finished 20 of 27 for 305 yards, four touchdowns and one interception, doing the heavy lifting before Lacey ever stepped in.
Once the freshman took over, Texas didn’t lose its footing. That mattered.
Lacey avoided risky throws, didn’t appear rattled and kept the offense on schedule. His longest completion covered 18 yards, and he helped the Longhorns keep moving late in a game that was already decided.
That sort of steady showing fits the profile Texas hoped it was getting when it signed him. The Saraland, Alabama, quarterback finished his high school career with 10,985 passing yards and 130 touchdown passes, all while going 39-3 as a three-year starter.
As a senior, he threw for 3,042 yards and 40 touchdowns and was named Alabama’s Mr. Football.
The recruiting buzz followed him to Austin, where he arrived as another highly regarded quarterback for Sarkisian to develop behind Manning.
For now, the road to major snaps is blocked as long as Manning stays healthy. But that doesn’t make Saturday insignificant. Lacey can use this season to learn the system, take the chances that come his way and get ready for a bigger role later.
Texas already knows what it has in Manning. Against Texas State, Lacey offered a promising early look at what might come next.
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For Texas, the larger question is not whether the Longhorns made an early statement, but how much that statement will move them when the new poll comes out. Week 1 was full of small shifts rather than seismic ones, even as Michigan escaped with a controversial Hail Mary finish and other ranked teams offered enough evidence to nudge the order a little in either direction. [Read more 🡒]
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Cooper is expected to wear a protective boot on his right leg for the foreseeable future, a sign that this is more than a short-lived bump in the road. For a freshman who had started to build momentum as a contributor, the immediate question is how long Texas will have to manage without him and how the staff reshuffles the depth chart in the meantime. [Read more 🡒]