While the Texas football team prepares for an integral matchup against the Washington Huskies in the Sugar Bowl for a spot in the National Championship game, the backup quarterback to Quinn Ewers will in fact be Arch Manning. The 18-year-old talented prospect is the eldest son of Cooper Manning and the nephew to legendary NFL players like Peyton and Eli Manning.

Texas football offensive coordinator Kyle Flood said it is a big change for Manning since he wasn't getting a lot of reps earlier in the season. The reason why Manning has been granted the role of backup quarterback is because Maalik Murphy entered the transfer portal with the intention of going to Duke according to ESPN.

“When you get into the season, you don't always have the opportunity to get everybody the amount of reps that you would like to. So I think that's the biggest change for him,” Flood said Friday.

Flood expressed that the team has “confidence” in Manning to be the backup quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. He even called the young signal-caller a “student of the game.”

“We've got a ton of confidence in Arch,” Flood said. “I think his progression throughout the year has been excellent. He's a real student of the game, and he's approached it like that from the very beginning.

“So I think probably the best thing for him and for us as a team was that, when that happened, it was very easy for him to just continue to do what he was doing because he never approached it like he was the third quarterback or the backup quarterback. He approaches everything like he's the starting quarterback. I think that's the key when you're in a reserve role of being ready when you're called upon.”

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Manning even got praise from Texas football starting quarterback Quinn Ewers who will look to take down the Huskies on New Year's Day. The sophomore said that Manning always asks questions to him and “understands the opportunity.”

“You can just tell that he wants to learn as much as he can,” Ewers said per ESPN. “He's always asking questions, just trying to do his best. I think he understands the opportunity he has in front of him, and he's definitely not going to waste it.”

Despite being the backup quarterback and having immense talent, Manning is still 18 years old and doesn't have game-time experience. Longhorns tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders admitted that if Ewers happened to go down, it would definitely take some time for the quarterback to “get settled in.”

“I think it would take him a little bit to get settled in,” Sanders said. “First start, and then in a College Football Playoff game. There's so much on the line. I definitely think, as a team, we would just have to implement the confidence in him, tell him we got you, just go and throw it. So I think if he was to play in the game, he would be ready.”

Beyond this upcoming season, Manning is heading into a bright future as a possible face of college football mixing his talent and the family name. It is going to be a crucial game on Jan. 1 where the No. 3 Texas football team takes on the No. 2 Washington Huskies at the Sugar Bowl.