Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning might be the most high-profile player in college football right now, but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily the best.
This week, ESPN star and prominent college football analyst Josh Pate shared his ranking of the top quarterbacks in the SEC. And Manning came in at just ninth in the conference alone.
Pate’s Rankings
In his rankings, which were released on Josh Pate’s College Football Show on Wednesday, Pate ranked Manning just one spot ahead of Vanderbilt Commodores freshman quarterback Jared Curtis.
- Trinidad Chambliss – Ole Miss Rebels
- Kamario Taylor – Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Keelon Russell – Alabama Crimson Tide
- Austin Simmons – Missouri Tigers
- Gunner Stockton – Georgia Bulldogs
- Aaron Philo – Florida Gators
- Sam Leavitt – LSU Tigers
- Kenny Minchey – Kentucky Wildcats
- Arch Manning – Texas Longhorns
- Jared Curtis – Vanderbilt Commodores
Manning is currently tied for the eighth-best odds in the Heisman Trophy race, but Pate has him as just the ninth-best player at his position alone in just his conference.
‘There’s just not much there’
Pate explained that Manning just does not have enough production for him to justify putting him higher on the list.
“I struggled with this. I’ve gotta put Arch at No. 9,” Pate said on his show.
Pate said that Manning’s come-from-behind performance against the Ohio State Buckeyes – or, as he describes it, “really just the last quarter against Ohio State – is the only reason he’s as high as he is on the list.
“If we didn’t have that, he wouldn’t be a top-10 quarterback in this league right now,” Pate said. “There’s not much there, guys. There’s not a whole lot to hang your hat on.”
Pate acknowledges that the comeback against Ohio State was “awesome,” but when Manning has actually been in the structure of the Texas offense, he hasn’t really looked impressive.
“He’s averaging under 200 yards per game, he’s taking sacks… There’s just not a whole lot there,” Pate said. “Not terrible – I’m not saying he’s terrible – there’s just not a whole lot there.”
Pate said that he now sees Texas as a defensive-minded team that can run the ball to win games with running backs Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown, but he doesn’t think the team can rely on Manning to be a difference-maker.
“I’m not counting on him to light it up,” Pate said of Manning. “He’s not disappointing me. At this point, I’m kind of getting what I expect from him.”
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