Texas coach Steve Sarkisian wasn’t interested in feeding the noise Monday, even with fans calling for changes and reports swirling about a possible shakeup on offense. He made it clear he isn’t ready to move on from Arch Manning as the starter, and he offered no indication that he’s prepared to hand off play-calling duties.
Most of the conversation during Sarkisian’s weekly game preview centered on Texas’ offensive skid, the chatter around KJ Lacey’s practice reps and whether a change might be coming behind center or on the headset. Sarkisian didn’t budge.
“Arch can play better for his, ya know. He's our starter, but I need to see a better version of Arch Manning,” Sarkisian said. “We need to see a better version of him this week.”
That came after Manning’s back-to-back losses to unranked opponents, games in which he turned the ball over in the fourth quarter and helped seal Texas’ fate. Sarkisian acknowledged the quarterback’s mindset as well.
“He's got a chip on his shoulder, and I appreciated it, I liked it,” Sarkisian said about Manning's mentality.
As for the rumors that Lacey has been getting more first-team work, Sarkisian pushed back on that too. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday morning that Lacey was expected to get an uptick in reps leading into Texas’ Week 8 matchup with Ole Miss. Sarkisian said Lacey already gets first-team snaps and wouldn’t confirm any increase.
“Not to me, but we'll find out as the week goes,” Sarkisian said on Lacey seeing an uptick in reps.
Sarkisian also didn’t offer any sign that he’s ready to step away from play-calling. No reporter asked him point-blank about giving it up, but several questions circled his recent decisions and offensive approach. He did, though, call one play against Florida a mistake.
“I didn't love that the official stood over the ball, but that was a crummy call. I wish I'd called something better for him in that situation,” Sarkisian said of the Manning roll-out play. “If we would've won the game or lost the game, I would've still come up here and told you that was a crummy call.”
Injury updates were just as tightly guarded. Colin Simmons’ fourth-quarter injury against Florida stood out as one of the weekend’s biggest storylines, and with six days left before Ole Miss, Hollywood Smothers has also reportedly entered the injury conversation. Sarkisian, as usual, declined to say anything specific and told reporters to wait for the first SEC availability report Wednesday evening.
“Are you going to do this? Are you going to waste your question on this right now?”
Sarkisian said before the question was even asked about Simmons. “I'm giving you a chance to change the question.”
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