Peyton Manning talked about his nephew Arch‘s present, and how the young college football quarterback is dealing with the early stage of his career. The Texas Longhorns backup quarterback has played his first snaps of the season late in the blowout win against Colorado State. As Quinn Ewers left the field with a 35-0 lead, the youngest heir on Manning’s royal family took to the field and added two scores to the board.
Arch Manning is a celebrity in college football already. He is the face of the Lomghorns program, although he is not the starting QB. Arch sits behind Ewers and knows his time will come in the 2025 season. Meanwhile, the 19-year old is making the most of this learning experience while the stakes are not too high. Peyton addressed where Arch’s mind is at this point of his career where he enjoys the perks of a QB1 though, it does not translate into more playing time.
“I think he wants to play and establish himself first. They got a good team this year, I’m a big fan of Quinn. I’ve gotten to know him. He comes down to our camp. The two of them get along great. I’m proud of him for staying there. Most kids probably transfer in that setting,” Peyton said on Bussin with the Boys podcast. “But he stayed there, he likes playing for Sark [Steve Sarkisian], he likes the system. When he does get in there, he’s going to benefit from having that continuity.”
As Ewers is set to declare for the 2025 NFL Draft, Arch has the opportunity to fully embrace Sarkisian’s system and even get a couple of snaps sporadically. He may not see the field on critical game situations, but the young prospect knows there will be plenty of time for that in the future.
Manning threw his first college TD pass and rushed for another on week 1, yet he has become a household name long before that. Fans at the University of Texas love him and his on-campus activities entertain and compensate for the times in which Arch does not see the field as much. Not a bad start, whatsoever, for the third generation member of football’s most prestigious quarterback family.
Arch received high praise from former Alabama QB
Manning’s entrance towards the end of the game on Saturday made waves all around the NCAA. Even though head coach Sarkisian had some discomfort with his performance, most agree Arch did a good job considering the game was already put away when number 16 on the Texas entered the huddle.
Among those amazed by Manning’s touchdown galore in such a small sample size, was Alabama Crimson Tide’s former quarterback and now analyst, Greg McElroy. Who did not think twice when addressing the QBs of a rival SEC team.
“I was really interested to see what Arch is going to do. I thought he looked really solid. Went 5 of 6, had a couple of touchdowns,” McElroy commented. “So, it looks like Texas is not just in good hands at quarterback this year, but for the forseeable future with the progress that has been made by Arch Manning.“
Arch has passed his first test of the 2024 season with flying colors. His next test may be a couple of weeks ahead, so he will hav enough time to study and prepare for it. On foresight, Manning won’t see the field when the Texas Longhorns take on the Michigan Wolverines on September 7th.