Steve Sarkisian asked about, swats away Arch Manning shoulder injury speculation

Two weeks in, this college football season has taught us that Arch Manning, the crown prince of the first family of the most revered position in American sports, is just like us. He's human.

The preseason Heisman Trophy favorite as a first-time starting quarterback, Manning has had a debut that it's fair to say has been up and down. The opener at Ohio State was mostly down. He totaled just 44 passing yards and no points through the first three quarters, then rallied in the fourth to finish the game 17-of-30 for 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception in then-No. 1 Texas's 14-7 loss. Against San Jose State on Saturday, Manning rallied past another slow start to torch San Jose State for much of the first half. After starting 3-of-6 for 11 yards (a third-down drop by wide receiver Ryan Wingo didn't help), Manning hit his next eight throws for 169 yards and four touchdowns. Not included in those numbers was a wonderful 34-yard fade down the sideline to emerging-No. 1-target Parker Livingstone to the SJSU 2-yard line, which was wiped away by penalty.

Overall, through two games Manning is 36-of-60 (60 percent completions, tied for 89th nationally) for 465 yards (7.8 per attempt, tied for 54th) with five touchdowns and two interceptions.

Within those numbers, there's the stuff you'd expect from a first-time starter, and there's stuff you wouldn't, especially from a third-year college player who was quite literally born to play the position. Specifically, mechanical breakdowns of the WTF variety.

It started with his first pass of the year, a ball he dirted to a wide-open DeAndre Moore.

Later, in Manning's two biggest throws of the game, he again dirted a ball to tight end Jack Endries on 2nd-and-5 near midfield as Texas attempted to tie the game, then was high and behind an open Wingo on the next snap. These throws came immediately after his best throw of the game, a tear-dropped 30-yard fade to Endries. "Now that is a pro throw!" Gus Johnson beamed. "Beautiful throw," Joel Klatt agreed.

As the game progressed and Fox cut to the many close ups of Manning, Arch-anon sprung up before our eyes.

Fast forward to Saturday and Arch-anon was back, particularly after cameras caught him wincing when Manning dirted a dig route to Wingo. 

Now, as ABC analyst Jesse Palmer pointed out in real time, Manning's front foot was not in line with his shoulders, which pushed the ball downward. "His feet were way too spread apart when he let go of that football and that forced it to nosedive on him," Palmer said. "It's too much of a stride, he gets too wide open, and this ball just torpedoes into the ground." 

"My bad," Manning clearly said to himself and no one immediately after the pass. His next throw was among the best of the day, a fade to receiver Aaron Butler where only Butler could make a play on the ball.

Still, that didn't stop Arch-anon from its second virtual gathering.

So, either Arch is grimacing after bad throws like a golfer who clearly realized he just shanked one off the tee, or his mechanics are off because he's clearly compensating for an obvious shoulder injury that powerful institutions and the mainstream media aren't telling us about. It's definitely one of the two.

The third explanation may just be that Arch has been diagnosed with a chronic case of Manning Face. Sometimes these guys just make weird faces.

Steve Sarkisian was asked about it on Monday, and was as open to the conversation as your wife would probably be to selling your possessions, emptying your bank accounts and becoming Tibetan monks. 

I'm not a doctor and I'm certainly not a college-level quarterbacks coach, but to my untrained eye it appears the "Arch is clearly hurt!" cries come after plays when he scans the field, quickly comes off one progression to another, and his feet don't catch up to his eyes. Thus, a dirted football and a grimacing face. I'd also ask Arch-anon to consider the other evidence, that Manning makes Manning-like throws before and after the above examples; that he only seems to grimace after incompletions, never completions; and that Manning has shown no hesitancy to put his shoulder at risk by extending plays or tucking and running. But, we know how that goes; people see what they want to see. 

As the season continues, one of three things will happen: Manning will gain experience and comfort within his offense and the above scenario will stop happening; he'll take the wrong hit at the wrong place and actually injure his throwing shoulder, and Arch-anon will claim victory; or he'll play the entire season, dirt the ball every now and then, undergo an offseason procedure and Texas sources will whisper "You know Arch was hurt all last year, right?" during the 2026 offseason.

Sounds fun!