Arch Manning is probably the most hyped prospect in college football heading into the 2025 season. You normally don’t see a red shirt sophomore quarterback with two starts under his belt at the top of several pre-season draft prospect lists. This is different for some obvious reasons. The bar is set very high for Manning as he comes from a famous family of quarterbacks. He’s the son of Cooper Manning, grandson of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and nephew of Super Bowl winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. He definitely has genetics in his favor. Arguably the top five star recruit of the 2023 class, he has the desired size at 6-4, 225 and elite athletic ability surpassing his famous uncles in that department.
Manning spent his first season at Texas as a redshirt. He appeared in one game throwing five passes in 2023. As a 19-year old redshirt freshman, he was thrust into action on September 14th against UTSA in the second quarter when starter Quinn Ewers went down with an injury. On his first play replacing Ewers, he threw a touchdown pass and on his third play he ran 67 yards for a touchdown on a read option. For the game he was 9-12 for 223 yards and 4 touchdowns. In his first start against Louisiana- Monroe he completed 15-29 for 258 yards, 2 touchdowns but also threw 2 interceptions.
There was some concern that when the competition got better he wouldn’t fair as well. However, he saved his best game for his first SEC start as he was outstanding against Mississippi State completing 26-31 for 324 yards and two touchdowns. He added 33 yards rushing on 6 attempts and a touchdown. In his time replacing Ewers, Manning displayed the makings of an elite quarterback although there was some inconsistency and growing pains. Overall, he has shown poise and pocket presence as well as mobility and a quick compact release. On his 67-yard touchdown run he showed the ability to make people miss and ran away from the pursuit.
As a passer he’s shown he can make all the throws and keep the play alive with his feet. Velocity on balls outside the numbers is excellent. Although the sample size is small, he’s shown accuracy on short, intermediate and deep throws. He’s shown the ability to layer the ball at different levels and put the ball into tight windows. With limited experience he still needs to develop consistent decision making. He will occasionally force the ball into coverage and has to show he can be consistent with mechanics under pressure. His accuracy has not been as good under pressure. More experience should smooth out some of those inconsistencies.
Some are projecting him as the top pick in the draft already. At Ourlads, we tend to be a little more deliberate with our evaluations as we like to see more game action before making a determination. That said, it’s easy to see him at the head of the quarterback class in 2026. One question is will he declare for the draft? He has eligibility through 2028 and with NIL being what it is, he can easily choose to stay at Texas awhile longer. As much as we like him, we want to see a larger sample size to see continued progress and confirm the incredible positive traits we've seen. We’re eager to see what he can do as the full-time starter in 2026.