The Texas Longhorns are tying their title hopes to one man: quarterback Arch Manning.
The redshirt sophomore, nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning and grandson of Archie Manning, impressed in a few relief appearances for Quinn Ewers last year.
Arch Manning’s NFL Future Hinges on Texas’s 2025 Success
Before he even takes a single snap in the 2025 college football season, some scouts are already projecting the prodigy to go No. 1 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft.
FOX Sports and The Athletic college football insider Bruce Feldman thinks the most likely way that happens is if he leads Texas to a title.
Speaking with Rich Eisen, Feldman was quite candid about the Longhorns and Manning.
“That would be a great thing for Texas because that means he probably won the national title,” Feldman said on “The Rich Eisen Show” Wednesday. “I think and look right now if you ask me whatever date it is… they would be my preseason pick to win the national title.”
“…They’ve done really well in the portal. Everything I’ve heard from the people I trust inside Texas has been glowing about Arch. It’s been glowing really from the time he’s gotten settled in there,” Feldman continued.
Feldman also commended Manning’s handling of his time in Texas thus far, including his tenure as Ewers’ backup.
“So I thought he handled every situation A+ in there,” Feldman said. “Does he get one year as a starter and then jump to the NFL? I don’t know. I don’t think anybody there—everybody’s just guessing, right? But I could see it.”
“I think this will be a better quarterback draft than what we just had, just because I felt like we had one real guy, and that guy—people thought was a fifth-rounder this time last year,” Feldman elaborated.
Feldman added that an unforeseen quarterback could jump to the top of the rankings this coming season, citing Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow as two past examples of players overperforming their preseason projections.
“So oftentimes there is a guy or two—nobody thought Jaden Daniels was going to be that guy, nobody thought Joe Burrow was going to be that guy a year out. But Cam Ward goes to Miami, and he tears it up there. I think people also saw some stuff in him that maybe they didn’t see coming out of Washington State.”
Manning and the Longhorns’ first 2025 test will come in the form of a College Football Playoff Semifinal rematch from last season. On August 30, Texas will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes.
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