Two Under-the-radar Areas Where Arch Manning Could Improve In 2026

AUSTIN, Texas — For a second straight year, there isn’t a more heavily-scrutinized player in the country than Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning heading into his second season as a starter on the Forty Acres. So it may strain credulity to suggest that there are under-the-radar areas where Manning could improve this season, but it’s true, with one impacting pre-game strategy and the other impacting post-snap decision making.

The first relates to Manning’s processing speed, one of the most underrated aspects of quarterback play — headline traits like arm strength and touch aren’t particularly useful for passers who get sped up in the pocket and drop their eyes to the pass rush or lose track of defenders because the game is happening to them too quickly.

Experience helps, and Manning gained it last season.

“It feels a little bit different,” Manning said on Monday, comparing this year to last year. “It feels like everything’s moving a little bit slower, which is a good thing.”

Establishing a trust level with the offensive line is an important tangible factor in processing speed to maintain eye discipline, an area where the Texas starter struggled earlier in his career, and one that was stressed to a massive extent last season, especially with the struggles at the left guard position.

Only five quarterbacks in college football were pressured more often than Manning last season, and he predictably struggled in those situations, throwing four of his seven interceptions and completing just 44.6 percent of his passes.

Unsurprisingly, Manning played at a high level in clean pockets with a passing grade of 89.6 from Pro Football Focus that ranked in the top 30 nationally thanks to a 67.6-percent completion percentage and a 19-to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

If better pass protection can actually afford Manning more time, the perception that the game is moving more slowly could allow him to make better decisions to bolster his completion percentage.

Getting off schedule was a persistent problem for the Longhorns that encompassed multiple fracture points, from too many penalties to an ineffective running game to a quarterback who wasn’t efficient enough with a 61.4-percent completion percentage that ranked 13th out of 15 qualifying SEC quarterback, higher only than South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers and Arkansas’ Taylen Green, two dual-threat quarterbacks known more for their running ability than their passing ability.

Former Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, in comparison, completed a career-high 69 percent of his passes in 2023 and 65.8 percent in 2024 with both seasons representing significant improvement over the 2022 season during which Sarkisian tended to spam downfield passes without success and Ewers finished with a completion percentage of 58.1 percent.

The game moving more slowly for Manning could allow him to identify a defender sitting on the route for his first or second read and move through his progressions instead of forcing a pass into coverage, or simply not hold onto the football for that extra hitch in the pocket that disrupts the timing and rhythm of the play.

Playing with more poise would produce more check downs to his dynamic running backs out of the backfield to stay ahead of the chains or become a recipient of their open-field playmaking ability, finding explosive plays from short, simple passes.

As Manning’s maturation produced a greater willingness to be a vocal leader, his willingness to speak up with his head coach could help the pre-game strategy sessions, especially the Friday sessions as Sarkisian creates his call sheet, translate into better play calls by Sarkisian on Saturdays.

“I don’t want to call anything that he doesn’t feel great about, and I try not to do that to him,” Sarkisian said on Monday. “The key to me in year two as a starter with Arch, is him having the ability to tell me he doesn’t like one of the plays because you’re not offending me, but I think sometimes a younger quarterback can be like, ‘I don’t want to tell him I don’t like that play because because he likes it.‘”

That specific communication element is something that Manning is now more comfortable expressing.

“I think that’s something that’s really important, not always saying what they want to hear, and being honest, because at the end of the day, we’re just trying to win games, and I’ve got to be honest and up front,” Manning said.

The most obvious area where better communication could improve outcomes is with the opening script. In 2024, the Horns ranked 11th in the country by scoring 8.1 points per game in the first quarter before dropping to 51st in 2025 at 6.1 points in the first quarter.

Situational calls could make an even bigger difference — Texas posted a mediocre red-zone touchdown rate last season of 63.8 percent, good for 49th nationally as Manning completed less than 50 percent of his red-zone passing attempts and threw two interceptions.

If Manning can communicate to Sarkisian plays that he feels better about in the red zone or even in the shot zone, where explosive plays can produce the type of game-changing touchdowns that obviate the need for red-zone execution, the Longhorns could receive a major boost.

Combined, the two areas for improvement for Manning could mark the critical difference between getting a high seed in the College Football Playoff and being in danger of missing it again for the second straight season in a season that will feature a narrow margin of error against the nation’s hardest schedule.