
Jeff Howe, CJ Vogel and Lifetime Longhorn Rod Babers examine the biggest weakness Arch Manning must correct during fall camp: the short passing game. Despite ranking among the SEC’s best quarterbacks on intermediate and deep throws, Arch finished last...
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What's happening behind the scenes at the most important position on the field? We're talking quarterbacks. On this latest edition of On Texas Football, brought to you by Prize Picks and Poncho. I am Jeff Howe, joined by CJ Vogel and Lifetime Longhorn Rob Babers. Guys not beating around the bush. We're talking camp updates and we're talking quarterbacks and we're talking Arch Manning. And you know, after missing a lot of time in the spring recovering from that foot surgery, a lot of the topics CJ early on in camp has been about Arch making SR calls and making his layups. And if you want a really good sample size for how that played out last year and how that hurt Texas. Thanks Shout out to producer Matt for putting this graphic together. If you look at Arch's pro football focus, passing grades by depth and this is SEC quarterbacks who had a minimum of 30 attempts at each of these depths. He's a top five quarterback in the conference, throwing balls behind the line of scrimmage on intermediate throws, sending 19 yards down the field and on the deep ball. You know, Arch is one of the best deep ball passing quarterbacks in the country, but C.J. he drops to the 10th in the conference on short throw, zero to nine yards. A lot of that stuff is timing. A lot of that stuff is rhythm. CJ I know we haven't seen a ton of the quarterbacks in camp with our media windows, but based on what little we've seen and what you've been able to gather, do you feel like Arch is taking the steps in the right direction to maybe not be elite, but at least be much better in the short game than he was last year?
C
I think it's tough to tell, right? Everything that we've seen so far through two practices that we were able to attend has been on air. Everything has been just, hey, do you have a rapport with an outbreaking route? Right? Can you throw a post? Can you throw a 10 yard sit or a choice route? For the most part, we don't see passes hit the ground in those settings and that's how it's designed. So what's going to be really interesting over the next three weeks is, well, Arch, we know isn't going to be hit, but pressure will be there. Colin Simmons is on the other side of the field. What does it look like when pressure is right there in his face? Do, does the ball get where it needs to be on time? That is the big piece. So I'm, I'm right now still holding out for a lot of my, you know, kind of biggest takeaways for Arch for the fall camp. But I do think that, hey, he's had four months to throw to these quarterbacks. And I know he wasn't active in the fall, not 100%, but he did go to New Orleans with these guys. He did have throwing sessions in Austin, in several other places around the country with Cam Coleman, Ryan Winko, Emmett Mosley, Jermaine Bishop. All of these guys were involved with throwing sessions with Arch Manning. I'm hopeful that he is because as you would talk about with any other position, the older that you get, the idea is that you get better as well. And I would think Arch is following that trajectory as well.
B
Yeah, Rod, again, we're looking some more Arch. Pff numbers. And shout out to producer Matt for putting the graphic together. If you look at Arch's rank among SEC quarterbacks in the short game, only Gunner Stockton attempted fewer. A fewer percentage of his attempts were in the short game. But if you look at Arch, 17th out of 20 quarterbacks in completion percentage, 16th out of 16th out of 20 in yards and yards per attempt. He was dead last in the SEC 1 qualifying quarterbacks and yards per attempt in the short game. Rod, we talked about this should be Sark's best RPO offense at Texas given the perimeter weapons and weapons you've got in the backfield. But the catch there is a lot of your tag throws on RPOs come in this passing depth. So yes, it's on everybody else to do their job. Arch did suffer from a pretty high drop rate in the short game last year, but it's on ours to work on. It's about timing, it's mechanics, it's rhythm. It's all of that stuff that goes into making these types of throws.
D
Yeah, I mean it's, it's. It's multi factorial.
C
Right.
D
I think you brought up the drops. I think that's part of it too. The. The pressure. The most of your pressure came from the left guard position. That's right up the gut. That's a little tough when you're talking about tags and rpo throws and RPOs. Essentially, in my opinion, it's just a combination of the run game and a quick game. So it's just a lot of quick game throws is why Stark looks for not only an accurate quarterback, but a quarterback that he says has quarterback quick hands. And I think he's talking about the slight of hand with the RPO offense. And I would just say this honestly and listen, every quarterback has their strengths and their weaknesses. I don't think that Arch is naturally an accurate quarterback in the quick game. I just don't think he's naturally accurate. Think about him on crossing routes. How many times you sit on the crossroads like, oh, that throws a little off and then it doesn't help that some of your guys are dropping some of those crossing routes. But crossing routes are a big part of Stark's offense. What are you talking about? The drag routes. What are you talking about? The overs and the unders. Big part of Sock's offense. And I think Sarek, you intentionally probably decreased the, the rate of those types of throws in his offense and went with more vertical throws.
C
Why?
D
Or I just. Good. The vertical throws. Right.
C
He just brought it up.
D
He's really good at getting the football down the field, deep down the field. I think Texas is really good in throws for Arch behind line scrimmage. Honestly, because of Ryan Wingo. I think it's just, it's a. That's a Ryan Wingo stat. Go look At Ryan Wingo's, it's like yards after the catch on screens and throws behind line and targets behind line scrimmage. He's one of the best in the country. So it's kind of just a Ryan Wingo stat on those kind of quick throws like that. But ultimately I think it's multifactorial. I think it's a quick pressure rate right up the gut, kind of up the gut right there at that left guard position. It's drops by the wide receivers. And I said he's not naturally an accurate quarterback in the quick game, but I think he's really good in the, in the deep vertical throws, intermediate throws down the field. And I think he's gotten much better at touch and accuracy in the screen game because the screen game is also huge part of Sox offense. I mean, that's like 20 of sorts offense, 25 is screens of any kind, wide receiver screens, running back screen, tight end screens. And those are all about, you know, touch and timing, all the touch and timing. I think he's gotten better in that aspect too. So it's, it's, yeah, it's something that I think is going to be a. Not a struggle, but it's, it's one of those things where he's got to improve. And also he has struggled throwing to the left to his left. Not struggled, but it's been, you can see there are different. There are definitely changes and decreases and drops in efficiency and effectiveness and throws and targets to the left of him as well. And sometimes that's some of your underneath crossing routes where he's throwing to the left of him. So those are all just things that I think looking at overall as an evaluation, he's got to get better at. I think we all expect him to improve on some things from last season to this season.
B
CJ Rod mentioned Ryan Wingo, and that takes me to the Mississippi State game where everything for Arch, everything for this offense changed in the second half of that Mississippi State game. But you go back to that opening drive, that was the first time we saw Sark open with that perimeter screen to Wingo, which is something they went back to time and time again because it kept working. C.J. how much of Arch's improvement? And look, there's a lot of discussion on line right now going back to last season with Archer struggles. How much was on Arch, how much do you blame on the offensive line? How much blame falls on Sark, how much blames on Kyle Flame falls on Kyle flood. But C.J. where I think Sark should be better is now that he's got a full season. We saw this in the second half of the year. Now that he knows the kind of throws to Rod's point, the kind of throws that are going to get Arch in a rhythm and get him some confidence and really get him going, the opening script should be much more conducive to Arch succeeding, which should get him in the rhythm, which should make everything from there on flow a lot better.
C
It should in theory, and I absolutely agree. Here's the thing though, is if you're going to be seeing those quick screen throws, which is going to be a piece of this Texas offense for as long as Steve Sarkeesian is there, that was not always 100% completion as the the way it should with Arch, right? Well, a lot of times wide receivers were catching balls at their knees. They were having to jump and catch above. There was in times, you know, the disconnect of the rhythm from when the ball should have been caught and the block should have been set up for the then the hole to be hit. And a lot of that stemmed from the wide receiver from the throw not being where it needed to be. It felt like at times, whether it's a screen, whether it's a missile, a jailbreak, whatever it might have been, it was just off timing for Arch. Now, again, not having the spring probably doesn't help in that regard in terms of having at least, you know, a simulated live setting to get that timing situated. But you've now played a full 12 games as a start, 13 games as a starting quarterback. That should be a good point to look at and say, okay, I understand now. I don't need to get this ball out in 0.2 seconds, right? I don't need to rush turning to in terms of my footwork when it comes to throwing these screens. And that's how it's taught. At times it looks like a shortstop or a second baseman trying to turn two up the middle. With the way that you catch the ball, your feet flip and immediately get the ball out. For Arch, it never felt like it was fully there. But now going into year four in this system and again, having the game experience that he does, it should be much better. Hopefully now that Ryan Wingo's role in this offense is solidified as that catch and run type of guy, that is something that should certainly help him as well.
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I want to get to. I want to get to talking about the backup quarterback situation specifically KJ Lazy here in just a second. But last thing on Arch, Rod I'll direct this to you because C.J. and I got this question on a recent live stream and I thought it made for good discussion. Just want to get your take on it. We know there's going to be give and take in camp. Anytime you have live scrimmage periods, there is. So if the quarterback's throwing interceptions, you think, oh, that's not good. But then, hey, at least the defense is forcing turnovers and vice versa. The quarterback's too clean. It's like, all right, why is the defense not forcing more turnovers? Is there anything you could hear, Rod, regarding Arch's performance, especially once we get to live practice periods and scrimmage situations? Is there anything you could hear that you'd consider a red flag regarding Arch heading into the season?
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Oh. Oh, that's a good question.
C
Yeah.
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I mean, if I'm hearing that, you know, some of these things that we've talked about that he hasn't improved on because there's. Right now there's a scout. There's a scouting report out now about architecture, right? There's a blueprint out now. It's like, all right, you know what? This is what you. This is how you defend Arch, right? You would. Like I said, he. He has less efficiency on throws and targets to his left. He's not great on crossing routes. He's not great in the quick game, in the short game. So these are kind of the kind of scouting reports and things that you're going to build a game plan against them. The beauty of the great Steve, the top quarterbacks in this, in this game, whether it be the NFL, even college, they improve tremendously. They shatter the scouting report. They basically make. It's like, well, that the time the Tom Brady. What's your Tom Brady scouting report? There is no. There isn't one, right? It's like, no, Patrick Mahomes was so damn good. The scouting report really didn't matter. It's like, yeah, you can do this, you can do that. But you really need to just get lucky. So you should just pray that you get lucky at the right time. Right down and call and have the right call, the right coverage, the right front. And that's why you just throw. Basically, the scouting report for elite quarterbacks is throw a lot of stuff at him. Just. Just keep throwing a lot of stuff at him. And then see if you mix them up, and then maybe they just have a bad day. Maybe their wife is mad at them. That's kind of the discovery report for great quarterbacks. But for quarterbacks who haven't reached that level yet, it's like, no, no. These are the four things that they struggle with. Try to put them in those situations as much as possible, right? And I think, like, you want to take Arch's legs away. That's one of the big things. Like, no, take his legs away because his legs get him going. When arches, when Archie's legs get going. Oh, man, that's the best damn play in Stark offense. At least he was last year, right? You want to shut that down. That's what Kirby's like. Kirby's like, nah, we shutting that. You ain't running orange. You're gonna beat me from the pocket all the time, baby. And then you're gonna be rushed in the pocket constantly, right? So there are certain little kind of data points in the scouting report that he's got to overcome, and I expect him to do that. I think the biggest one we're talking about here is he does have to get better in the quick game because that's such a big part of Stark's office. And that's how you get quarterbacks in a group. The quick game. I got to get you in the groove by chunking the ball. Are you running the football? That's putting you at risk and the offense at risk. The. The easiest solution is why they say you're struggling in. In basketball, right? Let's get him a. Get them to the free throw line. Give him an easy shot. He can see the ball go through the hoop. And for rx, you want to see that more in his game. Like, no, no. Ball through the hoop, baby. Let's go. You're in a groove, you're in a rhythm. And so you see, Sark didn't start the offense that way last year because Sark, I think, knew what we all saw. But when the season went on, like, that's not his strength. He wanted to start the season with his strength. Unfortunately, your offensive line wasn't able to hold up long enough for you to be able to maximize that.
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That's conversation for another day. And hey, whether it's layups or free throws, it's all going back to basketball analogies where what Arch needs to do do to get on track to have a positive and a good and a productive 2026. We'll talk about the backup quarterbacks here in just a second. But before we do that, let's welcome our newest sponsor here at On Texas Football and give a shout out to Poncho. Poncho makes the ultimate performance shirts for the outdoors. They can be your go to for all seasons. They got the best looking and most comfortable shirts you'll ever wear and now they've got their game day collection. Poncho has Texas fans covered for football season and Poncho has a special just for you. Go to ponchooutdoors.com ontexas and enter your email to get $10 off and free shipping on your first order. That's P O-N C H O outdoors.com ontexas head over there, drop in your email and you'll get $10 off and free shipping on your first order. Once you try one poncho shirt, you'll have a closet full in no time. You're gonna love how these shirts feel in the Texas heat. Gotta love the extra pockets and the zippers to store your stuff safely.
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Again.
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want to talk about KJ Lacy and reference a a post Jerry Hamilton made over on Texas Football.com Talking about some of the 11 on 11 stuff this team has already done. Talking about KJ ripping a number of impressive throws during the live period. We were told about one today, McCutcheon, that split defenders was maybe the best throw any quarterback on the roster had during the first two days of practice in 11 on 11 work. C.J. you look at K.J. lacy physically, he's not going to blow you away. I'm not going to steal your thunder. I'll just tee you up for it. What happens, C.J. when K.J.
C
lacy's running the offense, that ball moves down the field. And we've seen that time and time. We've heard that time and time again from Texas coaching members of the staff, members of the offense as well. It just feels like he has that knack. And I look back to his basketball background. He was a guy that was an eighth grader on varsity. The only reason why he didn't pursue a basketball career is, well, he stopped growing, right? He's around 6 foot right, 511 in that range. But as a result, he has that timing, he has that rhythm that we talk about when it comes to when the ball needs to get to where it goes for a certain play. He has that right and it's been in his brain since the minute he stepped foot on campus. Now, the other part of K.J. lacy's game that is lost in this as well, it's the athleticism, it's the improvisation of when the play breaks down and I need to create or extend. I'm able to do that because of my athleticism. And again, that just instinctual, you know, trait of finding places for the ball to go, regardless of if that is designed by the play. And it sounds like he's hitting his tight end significantly. Right pocket breaks down, he starts scrambling. His tight end is a safety valve. It's the same way that we saw with Quinn Ewers for two years before Arch Manning. Tight ends put up major numbers with yours. They didn't quite with Arch because Arch would just take off. He said, I I got this. I hit 22 miles per hour in game. I've got great athleticism. I'll do this myself. For KJ Lacy, that Nick Townsend connection through two days, it sounds like it's really flourishing. And that's encouraging. Not just because it's another way to get a playmaker involved, but it's another thing that a defense has to attest to. If tight ends on the field, they got to know that. Which then opens up a Kali Clockett or Dalen McCutcheon or Jermaine Bishop with that second unit. And it sounds like KJ is finding rhythm with those guys right now.
B
Now, Rod, there shouldn't be competition for QB2, right? Like this is KJ Lacy's job, unless something unforeseen happens. And I hate to bring this up, but if you look at Sark's time at Texas, he's needed the backup quarterback every year. Again, shout out producer Matt for putting the graphic together. 2021, Casey Thompson started the year as the backup, started 10 games. 2022, Hudson Card started the year as the backup, ended up starting three games. Malik Murphy in 2023 ended up starting two games and had to finish one. Arch in 24, had to finish one, started two. We know he played a role later in the year situationally. And then last year, Arch went wire to wire as the starter. First time that's happened at Texas since Sam Ellinger in 2019. But if you look within those games, Matthew Caldwell had to come in for one play. And that one play against Florida was actually big because it got position to maybe send that game to overtime. And then we know he finished off the overtime drive against Mississippi State with the, the winning touchdown to him and Mosley. But Rod, we're all hoping, keeping our fingers crossed, knocking on wood for a healthy season for Arch. But history does tell you tracking KJ Lacy's progress is important because chances are you're probably going to call on that backup quarterback at some point.
D
I mean, if not for Matthew Caldwell last year, right? You lose to Mississippi State, possibly, if he's not that clutch in that moment, right? If he's not clutching that critical moment. And I believe the stat is we've been keeping up with it forever. Jeff, was it. I believe since 1999, there only been five seasons where you've had a Texas quarterback start and finish every game. And by the way, there have been some of your greatest seasons, right? That's, that's 05, that's 08, that's 02 when I was here with Sims. You know, I think Sam. Sam Ellinger did it once as well. But it's, it's a, it doesn't happen very. It's the exception to the rule. So there's no doubt KJ got ready to go. And what I love about what I'm hearing about K.J. lacy is that, you know, for young quarterbacks, they often don't like to take what the defense is giving them. Even the young Quinn, yours had to be taught this, right? That, hey, a check down is not a loss, man. That's not an L. From what I hear about kj, it's one of offense moves. Because he's like, no, no, I'll take it. You don't give me that, boom, I'll take that six yards easy. And most young quarterbacks like, nah, I gotta get down. Arch has some of that. Arch had to get back to the check down. Remember, like, say, dude, take the check down. Oklahoma started taking the check down and then boom, it started. The office started moving, right. You got to take what the defense giving now from right here about Kitchen. That's why the offense moves. He makes the right decision because he'll just take what the offense, the defense is giving him. And I think that's a big part of his game he makes the most of quarterbacking is the routine. It's the check down. It's that, you know, getting through the progression. It's taking that, that hitch route, that quick game route, it's boring. But you can play like Brett Favre if you want to. And then, hey, I'm a test the defense every time. But then you're gonna probably end up as an all time leader interceptions even if you have elite great arm talent, right? Because you got to think the game through. It's a chess match. And he's really good, young as a young quarterback, which even Quinn, yours had to learn. The Oklahoma State game, he's like, bro, what are you doing? What? I don't know if Sharks call it like that's because I call it deep route. Doesn't mean you got to throw the deep route every time. Yeah, you got to take the check down. And I think that's what I love about K.J. lacey's game. There's a maturity to it early on and usually you don't have that with young quarterbacks.
B
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure the, the late Mike Leach would love KJ Lacey because that man will not go broke taking a profit. Kj, cj, I want to wrap this up talking about Diabell because we talked about Dia here on the channel. Look, the talent. And you can just watch him. Even when quarterbacks are thrown on air, everything looks the part of a big time quarterback prospect. But again, had the injury of senior year just doesn't maybe have the number of snaps, the kind of experience you'd want from a guy to call on early in his college career. Let's not lose track of the fact that whatever live snaps AJ Diabell gets in this camp are going to be really, really big for his future.
C
Future, no, unbelievably big for him. And again, everything that he does is so smooth, right? He looks like Robinson Cano playing second base. You know, whether it's picking a short hop, throwing a ball on, on a turn and two or the swing, it's everything is smooth but you got to see more of it. And that's why this fall camp is so important because again, he's the guy that coming in has fewer live reps throwing the football as a senior in high school than his entire career. Had fewer live passing attempts than queen errors did in his senior season. Right. Arch Manning trumps them in terms of Overall past times. K.J. lacy, he would do a full career's worth of pass attempts in one season at Sarah Lans. So any live rep that he can get throwing the football, very, very important for his overall development, understanding the speed of the game. And again, it's not like he's going to be asked to do a whole lot for Texas. I'm knocking on wood right now, but everything is smooth. Everything just looks the part. Now it's about understanding, dissecting and enacting on it as a Division 1 high level quarterback.
B
CJ's got the baseball analogies, Rod's got the basketball analogies, but we've got it down talking about Texas quarterbacks here in camp on this latest edition of On Texas Football. Cj, Rod, thank you guys for the time, the knowledge, the intel, the expertise. As always, big thank you to Matthew behind the scenes for producing it, doing the great job that he does.
C
Thank you.
B
Thank you to prize picks and Poncho for sponsoring this edition of On Texas Football. If you're not a member over@ontexas football.com and you want the latest camp intel, the latest information coming out of the 40 acres. We're talking about it over at ontexasfootball.com new members, $3 for your first three months of access. Not $3 a month. $3 and you get three months of access@ontexas football.com but don't wait. This offer won't last forever. So make sure you get over to ontexasfootball.com and check out everything we've got going on on the site during camp. Make sure that you like this video. Make sure you're subscribed to the on Texas Football YouTube channel, and make sure you've got your notifications set. That way, anytime we go live or drop a new video, you're not missing any of our Longhorn coverage or breaking news. For C.J. for Rod, for Matthew, for the entire On Texas Football staff, I'm Jeff Howell. Thank you so much for watching and listening. And until next time, welcome. Welcome.
On Texas Football
Episode: Arch Had GLARING Weakness in 2025... Have We Seen Improvement?
Host: Jeff Howe (standing in for Bobby Burton)
Guests: CJ Vogel, Rob Babers
Date: August 9, 2026
This episode digs into the quarterback situation at Texas, with a sharp focus on Arch Manning’s development heading into the 2026 season. The hosts analyze Manning’s notable weakness in short game passing from the previous year, discuss whether improvement is evident in camp so far, break down the factors at play, and examine the backup QB race (especially KJ Lacy and AJ Diabell). The conversation is filled with stats, analogies, and inside perspectives and is a must-listen for Longhorn fans eager for technical and strategic quarterback talk.
Arch’s strength and weakness by passing depth ([01:30]-[04:16])
Why the short game is crucial:
Camp Update: Improvement in Short Game?
Multifactorial issues ([05:13]-[07:54])
Screen game and Perimeter throws
Sarkisian’s Scripted Openers ([07:54]-[10:37])
Importance of “making layups” and on-time throws; last year’s offense sometimes struggled even with basic screen accuracy (placement/timing).
KJ Lacy: Immediate impact as QB2 ([16:55]-[20:31])
Importance of the backup role:
Rob Babers on Lacy:
AJ Diabell: High-ceiling project ([23:05]-[24:10])
On Arch’s short game:
On need for improvement:
On KJ Lacy maturity:
For full details, inside jokes, and real technical talk, listen to the episode or check camp reports at OnTexasFootball.com!