Who Will be the Texas Longhorns Starting Qb in 2023? Exploring the Longhorns QB battle between Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers, and more

The Texas Longhorns football program has a lot to be excited about after going 8-5 and finishing ranked No. 25 last season. However, their offense could look a lot different than it did at the end of the season in their 27-20 Alamo Bowl loss to the Washington Huskies.

Texas is going to be trying to figure out which one of its two young quarterbacks is going to be under center on Sept. 2 at home against the Rice Owls.

So, who is the better option for the Texas Longhorns, Quinn Ewers or Arch Manning?

Who will the Texas Longhorns name as starting quarterback?

Quinn Ewers, the honorable mention Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year, had a good season after dealing with an injury to his nonthrowing shoulder against Alabama in Week 2 that caused him to miss three games.

Ewers, who played one game at Ohio State in 2021, still had an exciting redshirt freshman season as he finished 172 of 296 (58.1%) for 2,177 yards with 15 touchdowns to six interceptions. He went 6-4 as a starter. Those are decent stats to expect out of a freshman, and there is definitely room for improvement if he can win the job.

Ewers was expected to be the top recruit in the 2022 class, but he reclassified to the 2021 class to start college early.

The Texas Longhorns have an interesting predicament as Arch Manning, the top-ranked player in the 2023 class, joined the program this spring. He obviously is part of one of the dominant football families in the sport and is expected to be like his grandfather, Archie, and Peyton and Eli, his uncles, in the pocket.

The offense is going to look substantially different without the ground attack of running back Bijan Robinson. Robinson, a unanimous All-American, was the No. 8 pick in last month's NFL draft.

There seems to be a large competition with a lot of eyes on which player will end up being the starting quarterback. It feels like Manning is going to be named the starter as Ewers did not do enough last season to lock down the job. However, Manning didn't light up the Longhorns' spring game, going just 5-for-13 for 30 yards. Looking at the physical traits, both Ewers and Manning are similar, so the playbook does not change.

Having Arch Manning under center will bring a lot more eyeballs to the program as well as land more highly-touted recruits and disgruntled players seeking the transfer portal. The upside of Manning feels to be brighter for the Longhorns than what Quinn Ewers will be able to do with this team.

Texas will have a very capable backup quarterback if it uses a two-quarterback package to confuse opposing defenses. However, Manning should be the day one starter for a lot of different reasons, both on and off the field.