Texas’ future with Arch Manning looks even brighter after Carson Beck transfer

While the Texas Longhorns with Arch Manning on the sidelines are still in the thralls of the College Football Playoff ahead of their semifinal matchup with the Ohio State Buckeyes, the transfer portal is continuing to stay hot around the rest of the sport. And Thursday afternoon came with a stunner out of the SEC as former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck is going back on his previous announcement that he'd enter the NFL Draft and will now, instead, be transferring.

For Texas, the most direct effect of Beck's decision is that it seems that he'll no longer be quarterbacking an SEC team. Early reports indicate that the Miami Hurricanes are the favorites for the Jacksonville native but that the Buckeyes and the Texas Tech Red Raiders could also be in play. So for the Longhorns in that regard, the Longhorns simply are less likely to face Beck again.

Indirectly, however, this could be a big boom for Texas, specifically as it pertains to their all-world backup quarterback, Manning.

While Arch has stated plainly that he won't be entering the portal and, presumably, will replace Quinn Ewers in the 2025 season as Texas' starting quarterback, the decision by Beck conceivably puts the Longhorns in a spot where it's more likely that Manning stays two years at the helm of Steve Sarkisian's offense.

Arch Manning could be locked in for two years at Texas after Carson Beck transfer

Plainly, my expectation has long been that Arch Manning would want to play two years as the starting quarterback at Texas regardless of outside factors. That's the path his uncles, Peyton and Eli, took in their collegiate careers while the Manning family is also wise enough to see how highly the NFL is valuing college experience when it comes to quarterback prospects based on recent failures of less experienced high picks at the position.

Having said that, Manning could've potentially been in a position where the 2026 NFL Draft would've been too enticing to pass up, especially if he were marked as the clear cut QB1 in that class. Beck's decision only further makes that at least more difficult of a proposition to live up to, though, especially given the quarterbacks that could be returning to college football.

Penn State's Drew Allar, LSU's Garrett Nussmeier, potentially the aforementioned Ewers at another program, and several others have all preceded Beck in their decisions to return to school, thus comprising what we expect to be the top of the 2026 quarterback draft class, not to mention someone like Clemson's Cade Klubnik as well.

This isn't to say that Manning couldn't emerge as simply the better prospect than any of those other prospects. At the same time, though, it would certainly put Arch under an even more high-powered microscope and, more importantly, his experience level simply wouldn't stack up to any of the quarterbacks previously mentioned.

So while it might just be further confirmation that Manning would stick around and spend two years as the starter with Texas, it is a nice sign for Longhorns fans that the landscape is shaping up in a way where it might not just be what the Manning family wants but also might simply be what's best for Arch.