Arch Manning is among the most hyped-up returning players of the 2025 college football season. While Manning did lead the Longhorns to victory in two of the games he started, many fans wonder if his popularity is due to his famous last name and not entirely to his football skills.
Arch Manning’s Ties With Peyton and Eli
Arch comes from a family that includes many football icons, including Eli and Peyton Manning, and this is the reason for much of the hype surrounding the Texas quarterback.
However, Arch was a 5-star recruit in high school, weighs 225 lb (102 kg), and is 6’4 tall, which is a promising stature for a football player. The Longhorns star completed a 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds and stepped up for the team in the 2024 season whenever QB1 Quinn Ewers was out on injury.
While Arch has already proven that he’s more than his last name, many critics still debate whether that’s the case.
Josh Pate argued that people would be stupid not to be excited seeing the last name, as the same situation happened when Peyton was recruited to Tennessee and his brother Eli committed to Ole Miss, later turning into NFL legends.
“Well, here’s the thing: I doubt we’d hear as much about Arch Manning, now he’s a five-star quarterback, and he’s at the University of Texas, so we’d still hear about him. But you’re right, we probably wouldn’t hear about him as much if his last name wasn’t Manning, but the insinuation there is, there’s nothing to that last name.
“Well, how dumb would we have been in retrospect if we had watched Archie Manning play his career, and then he’s got a kid named Peyton coming along, you know, because this all happened, and Peyton has a high profile recruitment, because this actually happened, and he commits to Tennessee, and folks run around saying, you know, it’s that last name that’s drawn the hype.” (38:10)
“Well, what did Peyton Manning go on to do? Then he’s got a brother, Eli, and so just rinse, wash, and repeat. It’s the last name; the dude wins two Super Bowls, you know? But it’s just the last name, and people are getting so caught up in it.”
Steve Sarkisian has officially named Manning the Longhorns’ starting quarterback for 2025 after spending two years on the bench behind Ewers.