{"id":480955,"date":"2025-10-28T01:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T01:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/480955\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T01:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T01:55:10","slug":"who-is-matthew-caldwell-5-things-to-know-about-the-texas-longhorns-backup-qb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/480955\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Matthew Caldwell? 5 things to know about the Texas Longhorns\u2019 backup QB"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Arch Manning in concussion protocol<\/a>, the Texas Longhorns<\/a> may have to turn to backup quarterback Matthew Caldwell in their matchup with No. 9 Vanderbilt.<\/p>\n

Here are five things to know about Texas\u2019 graduate transfer quarterback.<\/p>\n

1. The basics<\/p>\n

Name: Matthew Caldwell<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Born: May 23, 2003<\/p>\n

Position: QB<\/p>\n

Height: 6-4 Weight: 209<\/p>\n

Class: Redshirt senior<\/p>\n

Hometown: Auburn, Ala.<\/p>\n

2. A last-minute find<\/p>\n

Caldwell found his way to Austin as Texas\u2019 backup quarterback at the last minute. He entered the transfer portal out of Troy during the post-spring transfer window and didn\u2019t commit to Texas until early May, landing with the Longhorns less than four months before the season started.<\/p>\n

The graduate transfer completed his degree at Troy and is pursuing a graduate certificate in communication and leadership.<\/p>\n

3. Game-winner<\/p>\n

With Texas looking to keep its playoff hopes alive, the Longhorns found themselves trailing Mississippi State 38-21 in the fourth quarter. While Arch Manning sparked a huge comeback and forced overtime, he left the game after taking a hard hit.<\/p>\n

Caldwell stepped in and finished the comeback off with a beautiful 10-yard touchdown pass to Emmett Mosley V, which proved to be the game-winning score after Texas stopped Mississippi State on the next possession. Texas won the game 45-38 in overtime<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. A transfer portal regular<\/p>\n

Caldwell\u2019s transfer to Texas certainly wasn\u2019t the first time he hit the transfer portal.<\/p>\n

An unranked recruit out of high school, Caldwell landed at Jacksonville State for his first collegiate season in 2021. After that, he entered the transfer portal and landed at Gardner-Webb, where he spent two seasons. Following the 2023 season, he hit the portal again and landed at Troy. After one season at Troy and spending spring football with the Trojans, he entered the portal again and landed with the Longhorns.<\/p>\n

5. Stability for the Longhorns<\/p>\n

With Manning\u2019s status up in the air ahead of Texas\u2019 showdown with No. 9 Vanderbilt, Caldwell\u2019s teammates and coaches said they were comfortable with their backup quarterback<\/a>. See some of the things said about him by Texas teammates and coaches below.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very engaged, even when he doesn\u2019t play,\u201d Steve Sarkisian said. \u201cIf you ever watched our sidelines in-game, 18 is probably the most engaged player on that sideline.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always locked in. He\u2019s right there, ready to go in if anything happens. He\u2019s got his helmet on, (listening) to all the play calls through his helmet,\u201d receiver Parker Livingstone said. \u201cHe\u2019s like playing out like a mini game on the sideline, what he would do, what he would do differently, what reads he would go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt is the most engaged person on the sideline during the game,\u201d running back CJ Baxter said. \u201cHe comes off the field, going up to the o-line, you would think he\u2019s playing. I think that\u2019s why every time he does get in the game, we don\u2019t miss a blink, we don\u2019t miss a step because he\u2019s so engaged in the game.\u201c<\/p>\n

Find more college sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Find more Texas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Arch Manning in concussion protocol, the Texas Longhorns may have to turn to backup quarterback Matthew Caldwell…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[615,1554,7,49,48,9,384,1078,4662],"class_list":{"0":"post-480955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-arch-manning","9":"tag-colleges","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-steve-sarkisian","15":"tag-texas-longhorns","16":"tag-things-to-know"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115449307037845332","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}