Arch Manning doubters are coming out of the woodwork to drop future freezing takes

As if consecutive heartbreaking losses in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff weren't reason enough for Texas to be anxious for the 2025 season to start, we're just a few months away from Arch Manning finally ascending to QB1 for the Longhorns. It's a moment several years in the making, one that fans have been clamoring for from pretty much the moment Steve Sarkisian beat out every other big program in the country for Manning's commitment as the No. 1 recruit in his high school class.

For better or worse, Sark refused to cave, sticking by Quinn Ewers (when healthy, anyway) for two full seasons. But now Ewers is off to the NFL, and it's officially Arch's time — starting with a blockbuster Week 1 matchup against Ohio State in Columbus. With a ton of skill-position talent around him and another loaded defense, Manning sure seems poised to make good on the upside he's flashed over the last couple of years and have Texas back in the national title hunt.

That is, unless you happen to be certain members of the college football media. Now that Manning as starting quarterback has shifted from hypothetical to reality — and with a ton of air-time to fill between now and August — the naysayers have come out of the woodwork, providing the Longhorns with plenty of receipts to hang on to.

Inevitable Arch Manning backlash could make a whole lot of people look silly

In some sense, an Arch backlash was inevitable. With Ewers around, Manning was the tantalizing unknown, an alternative that fans and pundits could shape into whatever they wanted him to be in a given moment. Now that he's more or less locked in as Texas' starter for 2025, though, the focus has shifted squarely to him not as a question mark but as a player. Combine that with everything that outlets have to gain by staking out a contrarian position on arguably the most high-profile player in the sport moving forward, and you've got the perfect conditions for a media firestorm.

Still, some of the skepticism swirling around Manning and the Texas offense right now beggars belief. In one corner, you have some suggesting that he won't even be the best quarterback on the field when he takes on Julian Sayin and the Buckeyes, despite the fact that we haven't seen Sayin take a meaningful snap in college.

In others, you have people flat-out wondering whether MAnning will even be good.

It's not that Manning is immune from criticism; nobody is, especially not a quarterback with national title expectations who's made just two starts in his collegiate career. But we've way, way overcorrected at this point. For starters, Arch earned all that recruiting hype for reasons that went beyond his famous last name. And when he has been on the field over the past two years, he's absolutely looked the part, averaging over 10 yards per attempt and eight yards per carry in the two-plus games that Ewers was out in 2024.

Even when Ewers came back, Sark made great use of Manning as a running threat, where he's proven to be far more impressive an athlete than he got credit for. We won't know exactly what kind of player Arch will be until we see him week-in, week-out, with defenses scheming to stop him. But acting as though there's no evidence to believe in him as one of the better quarterbacks in the country in 2025 is just naysaying for naysaying's sake, especially compared to an actual unknown like Sayin.

We have a long way to go until Week 1, but at least Texas fans can keep their bookmark tabs busy until then.