Despite entering his third collegiate season without being a consistent starter, the Arch Manning hype is reaching a fever pitch. The 21-year-old slinger has Texas amongst the top-ranked teams in the country in early polling and is currently a favorite to hoist the Heisman trophy.
The offseason has only added fuel to the Arch fire, with numerous national analysts singing his praises and already thrusting him atop the 2026 NFL Draft Big Boards.
A pair of prominent Fox Sports talking heads are joining in with some bold statements about Arch's current standing.
During a recent appearance on "The Herd," Joel Klatt was asked how he views Arch and gave a declarative assessment:
Manning is No. 2.
"Arch is the second-best quarterback in college football," Klatt said. "I'm a big believer. He threatens every blade of grass on the field with a really strong arm. He's accurate and smart with it and better at throwing the ball down the field than even Quinn Ewers was. I think Arch is a lot of what we saw Trevor Lawrence become at Clemson."
Cowherd seemed convinced of this argument, but I'm unsure how much I'm buying. Ewers played the bulk of the 2024 campaign with a torn oblique.
A year after being an All-American signal-caller, he was average at best, which cost the Longhorns in their pursuit of a title.
Even still, Texas ended up a game away from the CFP title game. They lost to the eventual champion Ohio State Buckeyes.
If Arch was truly this generational prospect, why didn't Steve Sarkisian give him the keys to the offense, knowing Ewers was underperforming? Sark could have been loyal to the veteran player, but perhaps he just wasn't as confident in Arch at the controls.
Arch is oozing with talent, and the upside is apparent, but if his last name were "Smith," would he really be getting this same level of buzz, even on an SEC power?