Arch Manning Surprisingly Snubbed From Prestigious College Football Honor
Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning has not been a full-time starter for his team yet, but was featured in a watch list for a particular award.
Manning played in 10 games last season with two starts for his team. His starts came after Quinn Ewers suffered an oblique injury in the Michigan Wolverines game. Ewers played in the following game versus the UTSA Roadrunners, but was forced to exit early.
Manning threw for 939 passing yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions last season.
On Thursday, the preseason watch list for the 2025 Manning Award was released, and the Texas star's name was not included.
The award is handed out annually by the Allstate Sugar Bowl and goes to the best quarterback in college football. Last year's winner was Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward.
The last Texas player to take home the award was Colt McCoy in 2009, when the Longhorns reached the National Championship Game, but lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide 37-21.
While Manning was not named to the watch list, he is still making a positive impact on Texas. The quarterback is apparently influencing the commitment decision of five-star edge rusher Zyron Forstall.
Forstall and Manning are both natives of New Orleans, Louisiana, and were able to click fairly quickly when the recruit visited the Longhorns.
Elsewhere in recruiting for Texas, the Longhorns are hot on the trail of four-star tight end Brock Williams. However, while Williams seems to be favoring the Georgia Bulldogs, Texas was named the biggest threat to the SEC program in his recruitment.
Texas opens the year with the Ohio State Buckeyes on August 30 at Noon ET on Fox.This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 15, 2025, where it first appeared.
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USA Today
31 minutes ago
- USA Today
Texas QB Arch Manning facing high expectations and ills of elite talent and family name
If you think you're already tired of all things Arch Manning, imagine actually being Arch Manning. Just do normal, man. Play football, go to class, hang out on Fifth Street. The next thing you know, grandpa has the next two years of your life mapped out, and he's using the Texas Monthly magazine bullhorn so the planet knows it. It's bad enough that Arch has to deal with expectations of (in this order) an unbeaten season, an SEC championship, a Heisman Trophy, a national title, and the first pick in the NFL draft — or bust. PATH TO PLAYOFF: Sign up for our college football newsletter It's bad enough that one uncle is an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, and another uncle is on his way to Canton. And that's all Arch has to live up to. It's worse that grandpa, of all people – Archie Manning, the first true college football megastar of decades gone by and a fantastic NFL star who played on some truly lousy New Orleans Saints teams – joined Team Expectation and Speculation in July to declare Arch will spend two more years at Texas before leaving for the NFL. Book it. Only there's one teeny-weeny problem: Arch is only worried about the here and now. 'I don't know where he got that from,' Manning said Monday, in his first meeting with the media since last month's SEC media days. 'He texted me to apologize about that.' Let me be the first to apologize to Arch for all of this nonsense. For the hype and the hyperbole, for Las Vegas and the Heisman odds, for failure is not an option, for putting the horse before winning a road game as an SEC starting quarterback. You know, that used to be a big deal. To be fair to Manning, he doesn't want this circus. He said in July that he doesn't deserve any of it. He can't control what a talk radio host in Miami says anymore than a television bobblehead in Los Angeles. He knows Finebaum is chumming the waters, and the SEC Network is looking for the next soundbite, and everyone – I mean, everyone – is just waiting for him to fail. Because that's what we've become in this twisted wash machine of gotta have it, gotta get it. Build 'em up, tear 'em down. He just probably never expected grandpa to join the party. No one needs the season to begin quicker than Manning, whose first test out of the gate next week is on the road against defending national champion Ohio State. And that may as well be a welcome respite from this offseason of buffoonery. Let's not forget that Arch purposely avoided any connection to the past when, as the nation's No.1 quarterback recruit, he chose a different college path. Avoid the spotlight, embrace the normal. Didn't go to Ole Miss (where Archie and uncle Eli Manning played) or Tennessee (Peyton Manning), and didn't choose Alabama or Georgia and their recent history of college football domination. Manning chose the one school where he'd blend in like any other student on an urban campus, and where he could lift a program back to championship glory. Texas hasn't won a national title since Mack Brown's team shocked Southern California in 2005. That's 20 long years for the hardcore Burnt Orange, two excruciatingly painful decades of underachieving ugly. Texas has changed everything – coaches, athletic directors, presidents, conferences – in those 20 years, and nothing has worked. Now it has a genuine difference-maker at quarterback for the first time since Colt McCoy got the Longhorns back to the national title game in 2009, but was knocked out of the game on the first drive. That eventual loss to Alabama still haunts Brown, who swears Texas had the better team and the perfect game plan to beat the Tide. MONEY GRAB: With Michigan sanctions, NCAA sells what's left of soul Now here we are in 2025, and the entire college football world hangs on all things Arch. We can't get enough of it. Some because of tantalizing thoughts of what could be with all of that talent, and others just waiting for him to throw two picks in a loss to Ohio State. Because I told you so is such an attractive look. Here's a novel idea: just let the kid play. Forget about his bloated NIL deals, or his famous last name or that he has started all of two games in two seasons at Texas. If he goes out and beats Ohio State, don't start screaming about multiple Heismans or the first pick in the NFL draft. Stay in the moment and enjoy the ride. Even if Texas gets on a roll, and there's no one stopping the train. Even if Arch looks like all the best parts of Archie, Peyton and Eli. Even if Nick Saban admits at some point this season – during one of ESPN's many GameDay shows featuring Texas – that he'd have stayed at Alabama if he could've signed Arch. Grandpa has already done enough damage. Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
CNN
32 minutes ago
- CNN
Texas QB Arch Manning says his grandpa apologized for NFL plan prediction
There's so much speculation about Texas quarterback Arch Manning's future, in the media and even within his own family, that it can be hard for him to keep up. On Tuesday, Manning insisted he's not plotting out how long he'll stay at Texas or when he'll enter the NFL draft, despite his grandfather's recent prediction to Texas Monthly magazine that he'll be with the Longhorns through the 2026 season. 'I don't know where he got that from,' Arch Manning said in his first meeting with reporters since SEC media days in mid-July. 'He texted me to apologize about that. I'm really just taking it day by day right now.' Arch Manning has been careful while talking about his future as he leads the No. 1 Longhorns as the full-time starter after playing behind Quinn Ewers the past two seasons. Manning enters this season as the early favorite for the Heisman Trophy, has endorsement deals worth millions and comes from the most famous quarterbacking family in football. Grandfather Archie played in the NFL and uncles Peyton and Eli combined for four Super Bowl victories. Add that together and Arch Manning is shouldering the biggest spotlight of any player in the country. Texas opens the season August 30 at No. 3 Ohio State after losing to the Buckeyes in the national playoff semifinals last season. Manning is also very close to his grandfather, despite any confusion about whether he's destined for one or two seasons as the Texas starter before heading to the NFL. Manning noted Tuesday how Archie is always giving him advice on how to avoid taking big hits to prolong his career. 'Those hits add up,' Arch Manning said. 'My grandfather, he's hobbling around these days. He ends every call with 'get down or get out of bounds.''
New York Times
32 minutes ago
- New York Times
Arch Manning's siblings provide support, camaraderie growing up in football's first family
Like many proud dads in the early 2000s, Cooper Manning often whipped out the camcorder to document his three children — May, Arch and Heid — growing up. In one of the videos in the Manning family archives, Arch is participating but hangs in the background — clearly wanting May to stay in the spotlight while she dances front and center. In another, the kids are playing football in the family's New Orleans front yard, when 5-year-old Arch asks his dad to stop filming. Advertisement 'I said something like, 'Well, just keep your helmet on the whole time,'' Heid recalled telling his brother. 'And my parents always talk about it like, 'That's kind of how he is.' He honestly — just literally and metaphorically — just kind of wants to keep his helmet on. He's just not one for the spotlight. Just a shy, sweet kid.' These days, cameras are everywhere on Texas' Forty Acres as everyone in Austin wants a piece of the quarterback who wears No. 16. No one enters the 2025 college football season with more pressure than Manning, who leads No. 1 Texas into No. 3 Ohio State in a blockbuster season opener next week, marking the true start to the Manning era after a hype-filled two-year prologue as Arch waited his turn behind Quinn Ewers. But lucky for Arch (21), just like when they were kids, he has May (22) and Heid (19) — a sophomore alongside him at Texas — who form a faithful support system behind the scenes. 'My dad always made a joke, he was like, 'I'm glad Arch is the one who gets the attention because if Heid did, he'd be wearing a cape to school,'' Heid said. 'Which — is very much true.' If anyone can understand the heft of being a Manning, the most famous name in football, it's his brother and sister. Fiercely loyal, wickedly funny and always there to cheer him on — no one knows Arch quite like them. 'Arch values our sibling relationship — I think we all value it,' May said. 'But I think especially Arch being in the position he is now … he's so adamant about making sure the three of us stay close.' The Manning family has been in New Orleans for five decades, the surname made famous, of course, by Arch's grandfather, former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, and two Super Bowl-winning uncles, Peyton and Eli. Archie starred with the New Orleans Saints from 1971-82. He and his wife, Olivia, raised their three sons in the city, with Cooper, the eldest, eventually starting a family of his own in town with his wife Ellen. Advertisement May was born in December 2002. Arch came along in April 2004. Heid completed the family in December 2005. In some ways, the children's famous last name preceded them. In others, they were their own tight-knit little trio with their own identity, Arch serving as the glue. 'I get that question a lot, 'Did you understand the magnitude of (the Manning name?)'' Heid said. 'Yeah, we got it. But it was always May, Arch and Heid. It was never May Manning, Arch Manning, Heid Manning. 'It was never a moment where we were like, 'OK, we're Mannings.'' From a young age, Arch tried out all sorts of sports. Heid can vividly remember heading for the Lego aisle or looking at toys and movies as a 5-year-old on trips to Target, while Arch beelined to the sports department. When Heid asked for an Xbox or action figure for Christmas, Arch asked for a jersey or football. Always into something, Arch swam, played tennis, golf, basketball, baseball, football and even tried his hand at karate and gymnastics. On the baseball field, he often played with kids two and three years older. On the basketball court, he was able to dribble with his off hand before anyone else on the team. A post shared by Cooper Manning (@coopermanning) 'He was just ahead of the curve,' Heid said. 'Everything was always about being better or trying to get better,' May said. 'And that's (been the case) since he was 10 years old.' There was something about football, though. If Heid and May were inside watching television after school, Arch was outside throwing the football or asking to run in the park. If Heid wanted to sit down for dinner after a hard practice at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans — where he snapped to his brother as the varsity football team's center — Arch wanted to get 50 more snaps in before he ate. He was relentlessly motivated, May said. And between his grandfather, uncles and father, Arch very much understood how to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge that surrounded him. Advertisement As Arch progressed through Newman — where his father and uncles all played — May knew her brother might be onto something when she sat in the stands and watched him become the school's first freshman starter at QB in four decades. The Greenies went 9-2 that year, with Arch throwing for 2,500-plus yards en route to earning Freshman All-America honors from MaxPreps. He kept things going as a sophomore during the COVID-19 season, and by the end of his junior year, he emerged as the can't-miss five-star recruit who every school in the country wanted. Off at the University of Virginia, May missed most of her brother's recruitment — a national circus that saw college coaches showing up to the Newman playground just to see if they could catch a glimpse of Manning through a window. But she knew things were serious when Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and, of course, Texas all got in on the action. Heid, on the other hand, had a front-row seat to the process and could tell that a big city like Austin would offer his brother a level of privacy that traditional college towns couldn't. In typical Arch style, he didn't make a big deal about his commitment, simply letting the world know that Texas was the choice with his first-ever tweet. Committed to the University of Texas. #HookEm — Arch Manning (@ArchManning) June 23, 2022 Last season, the two brothers met for dinner as often as possible, even when Arch was busy with football and Heid was pledging a fraternity. They'd laugh together over Tex-Mex at Cabo Bob's or Maudies, their favorite spots, where no one could take Arch's mind off of everything around him quite like Heid. '(That was) a big thing for me,' Arch said in an interview with The Athletic last month. 'Laughing, not talking about football, was always good for me because as you know, nowadays, it's pretty much a job.' Heid's pals are Arch's pals and vice versa. They all have a group chat, and Arch and his football buddies have a standing invitation to hang out if they're looking to have a little fun in their free time. Heid likes to joke he's the more popular Manning on campus, which might not be that much of a stretch. But Arch's brother is a title he's happy to hold. Advertisement When Arch turned 21 in April, his mother begged him to let her throw a big party. But Arch opted for an intimate dinner with his close circle at ATX Cocina, an upscale Mexican restaurant in town. Stories were told. Heid gave a toast. Just what Arch wanted. This May before an early-morning family trip to the Bahamas, Arch came crashing into Heid's room at 11:30 p.m., jumped on the bed and shook his brother awake, too excited to sleep. 'I probably don't tell (Heid) enough how much I appreciate him,' Arch said. 'But I'm definitely his biggest fan behind his back. He's the funniest guy I know. He's the funniest guy in every room. No one laughs harder around him than me.' That said, no one keeps Arch humble like his siblings. During his first week on campus, Arch infamously lost his Texas student ID. He thinks it fell out of his wallet or phone in an English rhetoric and writing class. A fellow student found it and astutely realized the ID gave her access to the Texas football facility. She walked right into the South end zone of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to hand-deliver it to head coach Steve Sarkisian. But not before she took a picture of the ID that she promptly posted to Snapchat. 'I go back to my dorm room, I take a nap and I wake up to a FaceTime call from Sark,' Arch said. 'I was thinking I was in trouble or missed something, and it was him with the ID. He FaceTimed with it and was like, 'Hey pal.' So that was funny.' Within seconds of hanging up with Sarkisian, Arch had multiple text messages. The picture had already gone viral — the college football world getting a collective laugh out of QB1's whoopsie. 'Literally, my sister was like, 'What the hell is this?'' Arch said with a laugh. 'I lost it again on the Fourth of July last summer. That one did not go viral, which was great. It's probably at the bottom of the ocean or something.' Two years later, May and Heid still laugh at the Snapchat that, in some ways, perfectly embodies their brother. 'So typical,' May said. 'Just love the kid, but some of the things I'm like, 'Not surprised at all.'' 'It was the most, 'Yep, that's definitely my brother,'' Heid said. 'Especially the first week he got there. I was like, 'Yeah, this definitely sounds right.'' Advertisement As a football player, Arch studies film scrupulously, can break down defenses for days, inherited his mother's speed and has made it a point to work on his leadership this offseason. But as a brother, he has an endearing personality that often cracks his siblings up. A total middle child. May isn't so sure Arch, who loves Cinnamon Toast Crunch, can work a toaster properly or knows his car needs to have its oil changed regularly. One time, he asked his mother how much 'sand', er, laundry detergent he'd need for the washing machine. Another time, during his first semester at Texas, he called Heid because he realized he didn't know his own sushi order (it's two crunchy rolls on soy paper with miso soup). 'Arch knows things that no one else knows,' May said with a laugh. 'But then things that everyone knows, Arch has no idea about.' And then there are the bajillion questions, every single one of which keeps May and Heid on their toes. If Arch isn't asking May for girl advice, he's peppering her about her latest outing to grab ice cream — Where'd she go? What flavor did she get? Who'd she go with? Meet anyone new? Did the place look the same as usual? How are her friends liking the University of Delaware? Do they have sports there? Or, when she went to dinner with a friend recently — What'd you guys talk about? What questions did you ask? 'Arch is very inquisitive. I would say that's a quirk. Inquisitive about things that you would not think a person would be inquisitive about. He asks 100 questions. Heid, wouldn't you agree?' May said, laughing. 'He's very curious about the things that don't matter at all,' Heid echoed. 'I'm like, 'Why are you even asking me these questions?'' Both siblings figured that quirk also comes to the forefront when Arch and Sarkisian game plan or review concepts and coverages. Advertisement 'I cannot imagine what those meetings are like,' Heid quipped. 'Oh, me neither,' May said. 'Sark's probably like, 'Please get out of my office.'' But that's Arch. And they love him for it. Late last month, May was in Austin to see her younger brother for his last free weekend before preseason camp opened and football would dominate his schedule until January. Over takeout sushi with two of her UVA friends — who have also become Arch's good friends — she noticed something about her brother's demeanor. 'With all of this pressure — he's only played a couple downs of college football — and all of this hype, I think above it all, Arch is excited. He's antsy,' she said. 'He's excited to kind of put all of the hype and all of the talk to test: 'Everyone keeps saying what I can do, let me see if I can do it.' I think that's kind of how he's feeling right now.' Indeed, talking season is coming to a close and Arch will soon take the field in Columbus for a massive early-season test for the quarterback and the team. 'That's why you come to a school like Texas — to play in big-time games,' he said. 'So why not knock it out early? See what we're all about.' Through the course of the season, Heid and May will root their brother on. They'll offer an escape. Try to make him laugh in their 25-person SnapChat group, featuring all of the friends the siblings bring home to Mardi Gras — Arch's favorite time of year outside of football season. Ellen, Arch's mother, believes she'll be the most nervous person in the stadium any given week. Heid thinks he'll have her beat — sitting in the stands while someone else blocks for Arch. May's biggest hope? 'Obviously it's a lot of pressure, and I could not imagine being in his position,' she said. 'But I hope that with all of this right now, all of the attention surrounding him, I hope that it doesn't suck the fun and enjoyment out of football, because I know he loves it so much. 'I pray and I hope that that continues for him.' (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Todd Kirkland / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
