Fox Sports Analyst and college football writer RJ Young recently released a new episode of his podcast, discussing the question marks surrounding Texas quarterback Arch Manning and head coach Steve Sarkisian ahead of the 2025 season.
Betting odds currently have the Texas Longhorns as one of the favorites for the title in 2025, alongside Ohio State, Penn State, and Georgia. But can Manning and Sarkisian finally get the ‘Horns across the finish line?
Analyst RJ Young Discusses ‘Quarterback Of All Quarterbacks’ After Quinn Ewers’ Departure.
On the most recent episode of his show, analyst RJ Young discussed the possibility of Texas HC Steve Sarkisian leading the Longhorns to a national championship in the school’s second year in the SEC.
“That said, we’re talking about what Texas might be able to do in a league that they just joined, and they joined it with a vengeance,” Young explained, after the Longhorns won the SEC last year with a 7-1 conference record, led by QB Quinn Ewers.
“I kept saying Quinn Ewers led Texas to these championship games, and winning one in particular with the Big 12, and then two playoff games to get them into the semifinals against an Ohio State team that won the National Championship.” Young began by discussing the possibility of them going one step further, led by Arch Manning.
“And now you have the quarterback of all quarterbacks in our sport right now in Arch Manning, he’s football royalty, comes in to relieve Quinn Ewers and puts in 5 TDs, 75 yard passing touchdown, 50 yard passing touchdown, and a 67 yard rushing touchdown,” Young explained, referring to Manning’s appearance against UTSA.”
“And he’s expected to ascend into the Heisman contention. He’ll probably go into this year as a Heisman frontrunner,” the analyst concluded.
Also in this episode of his show, RJ Young discussed the roster at Texas, claiming that the Longhorns have the edge over the Ohio State Buckeyes following the 2025 NFL Draft.
“He’s also gonna have Ryan Wingo out there that you expect to make plays, we got to see DeAndre Moore come on, he’s gonna get Cedric Baxter back, he’s gonna get Christian Clarke back, along with Jerrick Gibson, do they lose Kelvin Banks? Yeah, but the offensive line was decent when he was hurt.” Young explained, going on to discuss Ohio State’s roster.
“Now you get an Ohio State team that has won a national championship, and returns a bunch of pretty good pieces, but loses about two dozen starters on both sides of the ball, including Emeka Egbuka, Treyveon Henderson and Judkins are also both in the NFL, then you’ve got Jeremiah Smith, he’s gonna be the X Factor, and the playmaker.”
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As Young alludes to, the Longhorns and Buckeyes will meet Week 1 in Columbus for a rematch of last year’s College Football Playoff Semifinal. The game is scheduled for Saturday, August 30, and will likely kick off at noon ET on Fox.
“I do think Texas is going to have the edge here, because Arch knows what he’s expected to do in Steve Sarkisian’s system, and Steve Sarkisian is one of the top five playcallers in our sport, full stop,” Young claimed boldly, placing the Texas Head Coach on a pedestal.
“Yeah, I don’t know if this is the year that Texas can do it, but I submit to you that I don’t know that they’re gonna have a better opportunity to do so than they do right now, so pressure cooker is on,” the analyst concluded.
Not only will this game be a rematch of last year, but if these teams perform the way they are expected, this could be a preview of the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship.
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