Texas football is king of recruiting ‘perfect QBs’ with Arch Manning commitment

The Arch Manning commitment doesn’t just mean that the University of Texas landed the nation’s biggest quarterback recruit: it has now landed three of them. 

The son of Cooper Manning and the grandson of Archie Manning has been considered a top quarterback prospect since middle school, but such is the life of Arch Manning.

The high school quarterback now enters his senior year of high school, but not without a firm commitment to hook ’em with the Texas Longhorns.

Although the move generated ire among SEC fans, it’s one that makes sense for Texas. Despite his inaugural 5-7 season, Steve Sarkisian has developed NFL-caliber quarterbacks like Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones, and he has recruited a group of four-star recruits to bolster his offensive line in 2022.

Aside from the revered Manning name, this is a historic get for Texas. According to ESPN, Manning’s decision marks “Texas’ first No. 1 overall recruit in the ESPN 300 era (since 2006) and its first quarterback ranked in the top 20 since Garrett Gilbert in 2009.”

What’s interesting about this statistic is that even though Texas hasn’t recruited a top quarterback in a long time, it’s the only school in college football history to have three perfect quarterbacks play in their program.

Who were the three ‘perfect quarterbacks’ who played for the Texas Longhorns?

Per CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah, the three perfectly-rated 1.0000 quarterback recruits in the 247Sports Composite era all donned the orange and white at some point.

So far, two have played for Texas: Vince Young and Quinn Ewers.

Back in 2006, Young stunned the NFL as the rookie quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, becoming the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year while earning a Pro Bowl nod. The year before, Young led the University of Texas on an undefeated campaign that made Texas the No. 1 team in the nation. Young’s 2005 performance culminated in a BCS Championship victory, a fitting end to what’s often considered to be one of the greatest college football teams of all time. That year, Young was honored with the Maxey Award, the Davey O’Brien Award, and — ironically — the Manning Award. His No. 10 jersey has been retired in all the prestige he brought to the program, but nearly two decades later, the Texans stood far from their Vince Young days. That’s when Quinn Ewers entered the picture.

Technically, Ewers wasn’t recruited by Texas, which is why Arch Manning still gets those recruiting distinctions. Despite being a Texas native hailing from Southlake, Ewers changed his plan to become the No. 1 prospect in the 2022 class to commit to Ohio State in 2021. After taking two snaps at the end of a November 2021 game, Ewers decided to transfer to Texas by early December. Ewers has yet to take DKR for the Longhorns, but now he does so knowing Manning is on his heels.

While the quarterback battle between Ewers and Manning is at least a year away, Texas fans can take pride that they, and only they, have attracted the only “perfect” college quarterback recruits since 2000. Ideally, both Ewers and Manning can bring just as much to Texas as Vince Young did nearly two decades ago.