It’s not a bold thing to say, the Texas Longhorns’ most anticipated 2026 season relies on Arch Manning’s injury. Since Manning was barely making any appearances for spring practices, Longhorns fans are obviously expecting the worst: “Steve Sarkisian might have been hiding Arch Manning’s injury,” or maybe “Arch has not recovered well, and might never will.” Before any more speculation moves forward, the Texas head honcho, Steve Sarkisian, hopped onto iHeartRadio and basically told everyone to stop playing amateur doctor based on a few grainy social media clips.

“I’d say on Arch, just in general, because I’ve heard some of the same sentiment you heard,” the head coach told AM 1300 The Zone. “People are overreacting way too much to this. The guy had a foot issue that we didn’t want to deal with last year, obviously, right before the season or during the season. We waited until after the season. He could have been back in spring practice, probably in week three, but again, he’s in year four in our system. But rest assured, Arch Manning is fine, he looks great.”

Sark thinks the internet is doing what it does best, overreacting to a tiny bit of footage without knowing the full story.

He confirmed that Arch is officially “100% ready to rock and roll” and looked great in the final stretches of the spring. The coach explained that they weren’t in a rush to force him into every single drill because the goal was long-term health. Since he’s been in the system the longest out of all, he knows the playbook inside and out, unlike others. So there isn’t much reward for him to do that.

However, Arch did have minor foot surgery this past January, which was a “preventative measure” to fix a nagging issue from late 2024. Even though he’s been limited in spring practices, Manning himself went on the record saying he feels 100% right now and could definitely play a full game if there were one today.

Sarkisian mentioned that Arch probably could have been a full participant by the third week of spring practice if they really pushed it, but they chose to be extra cautious. The main reason Arch didn’t take a ton of reps this spring was because of strategic purposes.

The coaches felt it was way more valuable to give those “real team reps” to the younger guys like KJ Lacey and Dia Bell. Sarkisian called it a “blessing in disguise.”

Steve Sarkisian even joked about it the other day that he doesn’t film reporters in the bathroom, so they shouldn’t be reading his quarterback’s facial expressions like they’re some kind of medical chart.

Now that the foot is actually fixed, and spring ball is over, the focus is entirely on the summer program. The coaching staff is genuinely excited to see what he can do when he’s not “side-arming” throws to compensate for his footing or dealing with lingering soreness. He expects Arch to be a full participant in everything starting in June.

Is Year 4 the year for Arch Manning?

Expectations are through the roof for Arch this year, especially since he’s currently a top favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. After a solid 2025 season where he threw for over 3,000 yards and 26 touchdowns, and led the team to a big Citrus Bowl win, he’s looking to take that big leap of faith that everybody’s been praying for.

Truth be told, Arch Manning recently said he isn’t bothered by pressure one bit. Instead, he’s focused on just having more fun this year and not letting the pressure get anywhere near him.

Texas fans have a lot to be excited about because the roster is absolutely stacked, the best offense in the SEC based on pure eye test. Not to mention, the Longhorns have three WR1s on the roster. This might actually be the last window Steve Sarkisian might get to win the natty.

The Longhorns are getting themselves ready for a Week 2 rematch against the Ohio State Buckeyes after losing the last two times against them. That game should tell us whether Arch Manning’s rest of the 2026 season.