With Sark’s backing, Murphy passes test for Texas

Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff WriterOct 28, 2023, 09:19 PM ET

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Dave Wilson is an editor for ESPN.com considering that 2010. He previously operated at The Dallas Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.AUSTIN, Texas– Steve Sarkisian didn’t waste whenever turning over the offense to redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy, who made his first collegiate start in No. 7 Texas’ 35-6 win over BYU on Saturday in relief of the hurt Quinn Ewers.With Ewers week-to-week with a shoulder injury suffered last week versus Houston, Sarkisian scripted 8 of the first 10 plays as passes for Murphy, with another lateral to Savion Red and simply one real running play. Murphy played the entire game, going 16-of-25 for 170 lawns and two touchdowns.Sarkisian returned his own playing days as BYU’s quarterback on his thinking.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated” In some cases the very best way

to eliminate any of the jitters that a guy may have is let him go play,” Sarkisian said.

“When I was a quarterback, my very first time I headed out there, offer me some throws. Do not make me wait up until it’s third-and-9 and now I have to toss it to attempt to make a play.”Murphy was loose, dancing before the game. He said Texas coaches told him,”Don’t alter, be me,”and stated Sarkisian’s self-confidence was an increase.”

He believed in me if he has the ability to script that numerous openers as passes for me in my first start,”Murphy stated.

“That sort of just informs me something, that he’s not letting off the gas and he thinks in my ability. So that was big.”One of those early passes was intercepted, with Murphy coming under pressure and floating a ball to the ideal flat that fell

right into the arms of BYU’s Crew Wakley.”It was a young error on my part, putting the ball in harm’s way,” Murphy stated.”But I was able to bounce back, and the group bounced

back with me.”Sarkisian said he was impressed with Murphy’s composure, noting there was a miscommunication on the play with a receiver and pointed to another turnover later, when the quarterback was hit and lost a fumble. “Both turnovers were, quite honestly, unfortunate for him,”Sarkisian stated.

“A few of the growing pains as a quarterback is often you have actually got to consume the ball and take the sack and not simply sort of shot to throw it specifically when you’re getting hit. … We have actually got to perform much better around him, however the manner in which he responded from both of those 2 turnovers, I believed was excellent.”Twice in the third quarter, the Longhorns were stopped on downs inside the BYU 5, a repeating

style with them this year. In spite of the Longhorns scoring 30 or more points in each of their first eight games in a season for the very first time in school history, Sarkisian admitted that it’s an issue afflicting his offense right now.” I ‘d be lying if I didn’t tell you there’s a level of disappointment as it relates to that, “he stated.”And we’ve got to continue to dig deep into that. “However the Longhorns’ defense developed havoc all day, and Texas was never ever in threat of losing the lead.Sarkisian likewise said a few of the offense’s battles implied he couldn’t discover the right time to discover an area for star freshman hire Arch Manning to make his very first look for Texas.

“We weren’t into the circulation that I would have liked,” Sarkisian said.”Maybe we might have punched a couple of those drives in where we got stopped inside the 5.

However we didn’t. So to me it had to do with making sure we have adequate rhythm with Maalik in there. I simply felt like it just wasn’t the right time today. “Sarkisian ended with appreciation for Murphy, who committed to Texas before Ewers moved from Ohio State and rehabbed an ankle injury suffered in the state championship game last season prior to Manning arriving this year.”He didn’t remain due to the fact that of NIL, “Sarkisian stated.” When I had my exit meeting [last season], he didn’t bring up something about NIL. He stayed since he wished to be part of this group. And he just wanted to ensure he had

a chance to complete. That’s what makes him unique.”