GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
ATLANTA – Arch Manning is 6-foot-4, but one could barely see his mop of light brown hair above the pocket of a throng of reporters surrounding him at a podium at the Southeastern Conference Media Days here on Tuesday.
“Got a new quarterback, Arch Manning, if you didn’t know,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian had said moments before at the main podium. “He’s replacing Quinn Ewers.”
ARCH MANNING STEALS THE SHOW AT SUGAR BOWL MEDIA DAY
Reporters had started swarming the empty Manning podium before Sarkisian was even done. Funny, while Ewers was being interviewed before postseason games the last two seasons, he watched as reporters crowded around Manning’s table. Never mind that he was not going to play.
That’s what happens when the No. 1 prospect and quarterback in the nation in the Class of 2023 signs with your program and sits the bench most of the time.
“It’s definitely not easy having me as the backup with all the media,” Manning said Tuesday. “I’m forever grateful for him. I learned so much from Quinn in my two years behind him. I think he handled it like a pro.”
Manning is still learning from Ewers, who is now with the Miami Dolphins, who took him in the seventh round of the NFL Draft last spring.
“I actually texted him the other week for advice on two-minute, what kind of plays he likes to start with,” Manning said.
The grandson of Ole Miss and New Orleans Saints great quarterback Archie Manning and son of Archie’s oldest Cooper Manning, Arch has always asked a lot of questions. In addition to dad, who signed as a wide receiver at Ole Miss out of Newman High before a bone disease ended his career, and his grandfather, there is Uncle Peyton and Eli. They each won two Super Bowls as NFL quarterbacks.
And at the Manning Passing Academy last month, he asked a lot of his roommate – LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.
“I asked him probably 200 questions,” Manning said. “I had no idea he was going to propose a week later. I’m excited for him. He’s going to have a good year. They’ve got a good squad over there.”
Nussmeier proposed a week after the camp to his girlfriend Ella Springfield.
The Manning Family finally gets to see what Arch can do on a full-time basis in college. So will the rest of the country. Texas plays at defending national champion Ohio State at 11 a.m. on Aug. 30 on Fox.
“It’s been cool looking up to him and my uncles and my dad,” Arch said. “I’ve always wanted to play in the SEC. It’s been a blessing.”
Arch remembers going to Ole Miss games regularly.
“We had a place in Oxford, and I’d spend a lot of the summer there and go to at least a game a year,” he said.
Manning is tired of watching and asking questions, though. It’s time to play.
Crowd gathers where Arch Manning will sit while his coach, Steve Sarkisian, talks on the left. pic.twitter.com/KmAxmeKUZP
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) July 15, 2025
“This is not a really big deal, but I played every year in high school,” Arch said of his days at Newman. “That doesn’t mean anything. But from sitting out and not playing, that was pretty tough.”
He never considered a visit to the NCAA Transfer Portal, which is all the rage for anyone not playing.
“No, that never really crossed my mind,” he said. “I knew Texas was the place I wanted to be. It was the city I wanted to be in – a great education. I have friends there. I was still developing and growing as a football player and as a person. So I never really wanted to leave. If there was somewhere else I wanted to be, I would have gone.”
Sarkisian is glad Manning was not the norm.
“I think he learned a lot over time, right? For Arch, he grew up in this era of seeing high-level football,” Sarkisian said. “He’s watched Super Bowls. He’s watched gold jackets getting put on (Peyton Manning). He’s been to playoff games. He’s been recruited at the highest level as the No. 1 player in the country. He watched Quinn navigate through the ups and downs of being a starting quarterback at the University of Texas.”
It’s time.
“I think the one thing you’ll find out about Arch is, one, he’s very even keel,” Sarkisian said. “Two, he’s very quick witted. He’s got a great sense of humor about himself, and he’s okay to laugh at himself.”
That runs in the family.
“That’s a great quality to have because, at the end of the day, there’s going to be adversity that’s going to strike this season,” Sarkisian said. “And we all talk about resiliency and grit and all those things that are needed when adversity strikes, but I think some of that resiliency can come from calm and remaining calm. Arch definitely has that about him.”
Sarkisian sound like he can’t wait as well.
“I think he’s prepared for the moment,” he said. “But now it’s just time for him to go do it and enjoy doing it, quite frankly.”
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