Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning is entering the season with arguably more hype and noise surrounding him than we’ve ever seen for a player who has never spent a full year as a starter.
ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum said that Arch, “is the best college football quarterback we have seen since Tim Tebow entered the scene in 2006,” Finebaum said.
Finebaum isn’t the only ESPN employee to sing Manning’s praises, either. Draft expert Mel Kiper has Manning as the top quarterback prospect in the 2026 class.
“We put him at No. 1 because we have to. It’s Arch Manning. We saw glimpses last year of the greatness he could provide that Texas offense. Running the football, he’s got great legs. Cooper Manning, his father, was a wide receiver until he got injured. So he’s got speed – something Eli and Peyton didn’t have…” Kiper said.
However, Arch isn’t letting all of the noise surrounding get to him. He’s laser-focused on the task ahead.
Manning and the Longhorns have a tough test ahead. For their first game of the season, Manning and the Longhorns are traveling to Columbus, OH, to take on the reigning national champion Ohio State Buckeyes.
Ahead of the season opener, Manning is making it clear to everyone, including the Buckeyes, that despite all the hype surrounding him and the Texas program, he feels that the Longhorns aren’t being hunted, they’re doing the hunting.
“The target’s not on our back. We have a red dot on everyone else,” he said.
“The target's not on our back. We have a red dot on everyone else."
– Arch Manning
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) August 26, 2025
It’ll be interesting to see how Manning does in his 2025 season debut on Saturday.
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