Arch Manning did something that is so rare, especially for quarterbacks in today’s college football.
He waited.
The No. 1 player in the 2023 Rivals250 went to Texas over Alabama and Georgia with the intention of sitting one year behind Quinn Ewers.
When Ewers returned for the 2024 season, Manning could have bolted and no one outside of Austin would have blamed him. An elite quarterback like that almost never sits for two years in today’s landscape.
But Manning has done everything his way through his recruitment and since he got to Texas. And now, finally, with Ewers announcing for the NFL Draft on Wednesday, the keys are in Manning’s hands to run the Longhorns’ offense.
He’s being handed a Lamborghini and Manning should make it purr.
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There are so many special things about Manning’s game and his mental makeup. It speaks volumes that he had the patience, the courage, to sit for two years and play only in limited situations for two Texas teams that made it to the College Football Playoff.
One of five five-star quarterbacks in the 2023 class, only Manning and Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava, who started this season and was involved in some rampant transfer portal rumors recently, are still where they signed out of high school.
Dante Moore started at UCLA – he was basically thrown to the wolves by former coach Chip Kelly – and has since transferred to Oregon. Moore has reportedly told people he wasn’t ready to start as a freshman and intentionally went to the Ducks so he could learn behind Dillon Gabriel for a season before taking over the offense in Eugene.
Malachi Nelson signed with USC, transferred out and went to Boise State where he didn’t win the starting job, transferred out of there and has now signed with UTEP. At one point, Nelson was seriously in the running for the No. 1 overall spot in the class.
Finally, Jackson Arnold started at Oklahoma this year only to get benched for Michael Hawkins but when that didn’t work out, the Sooners went back to Arnold in a massively bungled situation. That led to Arnold transferring and he’s now headed to Auburn where he should be the starter heading into next season.
In the 2024 class, five-star Julian Sayin transferred from Alabama to Ohio State before he even played a down in Tuscaloosa and Ohio State five-star QB Air Noland has transferred to South Carolina. And in a remarkable move for the 2025 class, four-star Jaron Sagapolutele flipped from Oregon to Cal after being with the Ducks at the Rose Bowl and practicing with them leading up to that game.
By sitting and waiting (instead of chasing instant headlines), Manning dodged all that drama.
Ewers, also a former No. 1 overall prospect who had a great career at Texas but probably underwhelmed in the big picture (he’ll probably be a fringe first-round selection), was a transfer QB himself, coming to Texas after one season at Ohio State.
He has the arm talent to climb up draft boards, but his numbers from his second to third season in Austin didn’t improve so that might be an issue.
But, regardless, everything has been cleared out for Manning to finally have the spotlight.
He did not crave it through the recruiting process, hardly doing interviews. He didn’t play 7-on-7 or do the normal routine of camps or all-star events. I’ve been critical of some of those decisions because I still maintain that having fun as a kid, with your peers, is a big part of this whole thing and he missed out on it.
Either way, Manning did things his way and now everything has lined up for him to lead Texas not only back to the College Football Playoff, but take that next step.
Coach Steve Sarkisian has managed Manning the last two years perfectly; some might argue he should have been playing even sooner.
But it’s Manning’s time now. He was the No. 1 player in the 2023 class for a reason. He has the pedigree and the skills to be phenomenal.
And Manning might be taking over at precisely the perfect time, proving to be exactly what the Longhorns need to deliver another national title to Austin.
