Recruiting an excellent midfielder arc manninga rare clash of talent, pedigree and potential, has captivated college football for years.
Manning ended the plot on Thursday afternoon, sticking with Texas over suitors who included Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Clemson and Virginia.
While Manning has long been considered the best player in the 2023 class, the family remained intent on trying to keep his recruitment as low-key as possible. His Instagram is private, and he hasn’t been an active participant in name, photo, and likeness opportunities. But that’s still tricky, given the family’s lineage and the size of how his decision impacted the show’s fortune.
So that Manning used first tweet To announce, on a verified Twitter account with a bio that simply says “High School Student”.
Committed to the University of Texas. #HookEm pic.twitter.com/jHYbjBaF5K
ArchManning June 23, 2022
Texas coach Steve Sarkissian also responded to Manning’s announcement, initially retweeting his new recruit in the middle and then writing,All gas, no brake!!!In a follow-up post.
Manning is the nephew of Elle and Peyton Manning, great-grandson of Archie Manning and son of Cooper Manning, an Ole Miss wide recipient. He’s the star quarterback at Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans — throwing 5,731 yards and 72 touchdowns in his first three years of high school football — and has been considered one of the top prospects since middle school.
Any bit of news about the quarterback would have gone viral throughout the recruiting world. The commitment of Manning’s high school classmate and close friend, three-star tight end Will RandleShe has drawn attention because she is a pioneer in where Manning can lean.
“He made that decision himself. It was his decision,” said Manning High School coach Nelson Stewart. “I’m just glad he’s where he wants to be. He’s an 18-year-old. There was a lot on his shoulders. He took his time and showed a lot of maturity.
“When it came to this family, the choice was his.”
Stewart said that from the start, the family stressed that Arch Manning had an “old school from the ’70s.”
“It unfolded naturally. I’m so proud of it,” Stewart said. “I hope he can rest and enjoy his graduation year with his friends and take the next step. There’s a huge roof in front of him.”
His commitment to Texas represents both Arch Manning as he finds his way and perhaps reunited with his family roots in the SEC. The Manning family has strong ties to the Ole Miss and Tennessee, and Arch Manning could end up as a link to the SEC, where he could be the quarterback for Texas in 2025, when the Longhorns are set to make their conference debut.
The commitment represents Texans’ first total recruit in the ESPN 300 era (since 2006) and the first quarterback to have been ranked in the Top 20 since Garrett Gilbert in 2009. It also gives Texans a building block for the 2023 recruiting class, with players expected to attract The skill to play as talented as Manning.
The decision represented a massive win for Sarkissian, especially after his 5-7 season appearance which included a home loss to Kansas. Manning’s decision reaffirms Sarkissian as one of the best quarterback coaches in the country and Texas as a quarterback destination. Sarkissian is a Longhorns player and has trained back players such as Toa TagoviloaAnd the Mac Jones Lennart died.
Sarkissian also served twice as an NFL coach with the Raiders and the Hawks. Arch Manning’s preparation for the NFL was the primary catalyst as Manning went through the enlistment process.
The Manning family also built a strong relationship with Texas head coach A.J. Milloy, who played a big part in comfort level sending him to Austin.
Stewart credited the amount of time and effort Sarkissian and Milloy put into recruiting Manning. Stewart joked that he’s spoken to Milloy “more than my wife in the past two years” and that the quarterback coach has been around Isidore Newman enough that he’ll turn the light on in the weight room at 7 a.m.
Stewart added, “Sark, besides being a passing genius second to none in football acumen and offensive ideology, is a good person. He and AJ Milwee have forged their own relationships. They really took the time to enlist His Majesty. I was able to see it for myself.”
Manning’s decision gives Texas one of the strongest and most competitive quarterback chambers in the country. The Longhorns have Ohio transfer Queen Ewerswho was widely considered the best midfielder in the class of 2021. They also have talented players in owner murphyan ESPN 300 recruit in the 2022 class, and Hudson Cardwho was the No. 2 inductee on ESPN’s quarterback in the class of 2020.
How good is Manning? One of the coaches who recruited him told ESPN that he would likely still be the number one player in his class if his last name was other than Manning.
“He has a big arm,” the coach said. “He’s more mobile than everyone thinks. He’s not like Manning who can’t move. He can get out of trouble. He’s not a bust in his pocket. He plays basketball and can dunk.”
“He’s a typical kid who sees the pitch well. He won’t make bad decisions, he won’t make bad plays worse and he’ll really manage the attack.”
Manning has earned a reputation as a sports rat who loves football. His biggest hit is the level of competition in high school, where there will be a sharp adjustment in college. But the coaches who recruited Manning were taken aback by his work ethic, as he embraced the details.
“What I liked about him is that he lives under pressure,” the coach said. “He has to live with that pressure and deal with all of that. This could be a good transition for him. He’s been doing it his whole high school career. No stage would be too big.”
And for Texans, the commitment gives the Longhorns family a top player to build their journey to the SEC. Texans were blown 40-21 in Arkansas last year — a measure of how far the program needs to go to compete with the middle of the pack in the conference.
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