Arch Manning proves Texas is lucky it didn’t hit the transfer window

Texas would like the college football world to know it’s back. A College Football Playoff appearance last season is certainly a step in the right direction, but can it be sustained?

Enter Arch Manning. The 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman, the nephew of multi-time Super Bowl winners Peyton and Eli Manning, showed Longhorn fans that the program does, in fact, appear to be making a comeback.

Starter Quinn Ewers was pulled in the third quarter of Texas’ 52-0 win over Colorado State on Saturday, and Manning took over the passing duties for the rest of the game.

The 19-year-old made an immediate impact, throwing his first collegiate touchdown pass to Oregon State transfer Silas Bolden, extending Texas’ lead to 45-0 late in the third quarter and giving Longhorns fans even more confidence in their teams. profile backup.

Manning went 5-for-6, throwing for 95 yards in his brief but impressive appearance. The youngster also showed off his leg strength, forcing a sneaky defender over the goal line for his second score of the day. Even better, it came on a do-or-die fourth-and-goal game to blow the Rams away in this game.

Manning likely won’t see the field in a full-time role barring injury until next season, as this year will be Ewers’ last chance to bring a title home to Austin before he retires. was probably headed for the NFL Draft.

That’s not to say Manning won’t have his fair share of coaches trying to lure him to their programs via the transfer portal, though he’s resisted, according to every report and commentary on the matter thus far. But rest assured Longhorn fans, today’s performance should give head coach Steve Sarkisian every confidence that Manning is the future of Texas football, which by all accounts the young signal-caller wants to be.