As the 2025 college football season approaches, fans and pundits alike will be studying and scrutinizing rosters to determine which programs have the edge. One of those teams that will be under the microscope the most is Texas.
After falling short in the College Football Playoff semifinal against eventual national champions Ohio State, the Longhorns will be looking to advance with a young leader under center.
Quarterback Arch Manning, a redshirt sophomore now, will officially inherit the Texas offense from 2024 starter Quinn Ewers and there will be severely higher expectations on him than his predecessor due to his name alone.
Arch Manning hype train could be screeching to a halt with hot takes
Manning put up 939 passing yards and 9 touchdowns in 10 appearances last season, the bulk coming when Ewers was forced to miss time due to an injury. He was more than serviceable in his backup position as a freshman, going undefeated and earning high praise that's got him pegged as a Heisman Trophy favorite.
However, the hype always comes with its haters and there's already some spreading conjecture about Manning's potential shortcomings.
ESPN college football analyst Aaron Murray expressed his doubts in Manning's actual ability to deliver a championship to Texas and prove himself the presumed No. 1 overall pick at the 2026 NFL Draft.
"If you are so good… why in the hell are you not playing above a 7th round QB?" Murray said of Manning's inability to surpass Ewers on the depth chart last season when the 21-year-old was struggling to find consistency late in the year.
Aaron Murray's critique of Arch Manning isn't rooted in reality
Head coach Steve Sarkisian was never going to bench Ewers for Manning outright based on the principle that Ewers had seniority and more experience, therefore buying himself more time to rebound in his performances. While Ewers couldn't follow through on that championship expectation, there's no evidence Manning would've done so in his first year either.
It's fair to say fans should pump the brakes on Manning's hype train until he's actually proven himself beyond a reasonable doubt that he's going to add himself to the pantheon of his family's footballing legacy. But to use less than a year of actually decent and expectation-surpassing football as the basis for casting severe doubt feels just a touch overreactive.
Manning will have his opportunity to prove haters wrong this fall but it shouldn't surprise folks if he isn't the messianic figure Texas fans are hoping he is for their program. There was never a guarantee he'd declare for the NFL after this season anyways, so there's still room for development and an eventual rise to his potential later.