The Arch Manning hype ahead of the 2025 college football season was one of the biggest storylines of this year’s offseason.
Without ever starting a game in college, Manning was predicted to be the No.1 runner to win the Heisman Trophy, be the No. 1 NFL Draft pick, and also be among the best quarterbacks in the SEC.
Analysts like Paul Finebaum even declared Manning as among the most dynamic players we’ve seen in a decade while also comparing him to Tim Tebow, who is considered one of the best college football players to ever play the game.
After Arch Manning was seen struggling during his debut against Ohio State, Ryan Clark shared that the expectations on the Texas QB were too much to begin with. Clark said on The Pivot:
“It’s more so other people than him. He didn’t ask for these expectations. Other people gave him these expectations without doing their due diligence. Arch Manning period, point blank, is neither a generational nor transcendent talent. Arch Manning can’t run like LaNorris Sellers. He can’t throw like Garrett Nussmeier or Bryce Underwood. He’s not Trevor Lawrence. He’s not Caleb Williams. Those guys who are what people felt like were generational.”
“Arch Manning spent two years behind Quinn Ewers, who was the seventh round pick, and not only did he sit behind when Quinn got hurt,” he added. “Arch played, and they put Quinn back in the game, and his last name is, manning, you don’t do that for somebody who will be the first overall pick going to win the Heisman as a junior is going to leave school and be the dude.”
Rarely agree with ryan clark but he’s correct, Arch played the local ymca in high school and wasnt very good, 6 star last name, and 3 star high school film
— Official Ohio State DG (@DylanEveryday) September 2, 2025
Also read: Ex NFL WR Compares Arch Manning and Shedeur Sanders After Texas’ Disappointing Ohio State Loss
Steve Sarkisian on Meeting Arch Manning at Half Time During Ohio State Showdown
Texas’ Week 1 matchup didn’t go as Steve Sarkisian and Co. would’ve planned. The Longhorns struggled with 0 points on the table for most of the match, especially till half time, which is when the Steve Sarkisian met Arch Manning and tried to calm him down.
On a press conference held on Sept. 1, Sarkisian admitted he was pretty frustrated coming out at the first half. He further said that he felt like they had a good plan and thought if he could just calm Arch and get him into a space, the second half will be better, which is why he met him directly during halftime.
Sarkisian stated that the reason for his disappointment was that they only scored seven points in the second half and had just about 260 yards against the defense.
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