It’s no secret that Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning, the nephew of legendary NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, entered the season with a somewhat unreasonable amount of hype.
“We put him at No. 1 because we have to. It’s Arch Manning. We saw glimpses last year of the greatness he could provide that Texas offense. Running the football, he’s got great legs. Cooper Manning, his father, was a wide receiver until he got injured. So he’s got speed – something Eli and Peyton didn’t have,” said NFL draft expert Mel Kiper before the season.
Kiper wasn’t alone. College football analyst Paul Finebaum called Manning “the best college football quarterback we have seen since Tim Tebow entered the scene in 2006.”
However, the season started brutally for Manning. It got so ugly in Austin, Texas, that Finebaum walked back some of his initial hype.
“The bottom line is Arch Manning is not playing like an elite quarterback,” he said earlier this season, according to Awful Announcing. “He’s barely playing like a pedestrian quarterback. He had some good plays (against San Jose State), but that game doesn’t mean anything. Ultimately, I think we all jumped the gun. Is he in the Heisman race? No, Arch Manning is not in the Heisman race as of today.”
Then, Manning turned things around. In a must win game against the Vanderbilt Commodores for Texas’ playoff hops, Manning delivered his best performance of the season, and it didn’t go unnoticed.
🏈 SEC Offensive Player of the Week: WK 10
🤘 Arch Manning@TexasFootball x #SECFB pic.twitter.com/7FHbSzCExL
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) November 3, 2025
Fans reacted to Manning’s hardware on social media.
“The haters are furious,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“On a straight heater …. Be in denial all you wish,” someone else added.
“I was told Texas didn’t have a chance to beat Vandy with Arch at QB,” one fan added.
It’ll be interesting to see if Manning can keep up the elite play down the home stretch of the season.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.