NEW ORLEANS — Spread across the Superdome’s artificial turf field on Saturday, Texas football players and coaches took their places at the Sugar Bowl’s main media day.
Every player and staff member was available, some of them even positioned on raised platforms and others with name placards before them.
But the most popular person here, surrounded at one point by as many as two dozen reporters, sat, fittingly, along an aluminum bench with other backups.
He needed no platform, stage or name placard.
“It’s Arch day,” someone among the crowd whispered.
For the first time since he enrolled last January at Texas, Arch Manning spoke publicly to media members, drawing a bigger crowd than Texas’ own starting QB and, even, his own head coach. For 50 minutes, he answered a barrage of questions as a rotation of reporters encircled him.
How’s it been to be a backup for the first time in your career? Fine, he said, while acknowledging there’s been an adjustment.
What’s it like to be back in your hometown? Cool, he said. He actually got to spend a couple nights with his folks at their Uptown New Orleans home, even bringing over teammates to introduce them to the family.
Did you contemplate transferring? No way, he said.
How did you lose your team-issued ID badge? Funny enough, he’s lost the badge twice.
Are you ready to play if starter Quinn Ewers goes down? Well, sure, he said. He’ll be ready to “roll.”
How would you assess yourself in the two games in which you played? “I fumbled a snap,” he laughed. “Glad that I got that out of the way.”
Whew! Finally, he was free to leave, breathless and exhausted having answered more than 60 questions.
Texas quarterback Arch Manning was the center of attention during the Sugar Bowl media day on Saturday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Such is life for not just one of the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/its-arch-day–texas-backup-qb-arch-manning-steals-spotlight-ahead-of-sugar-bowl-showdown-with-washington-193312434.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2023-12-30 19:33:12
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