With the new season comes a whole new chapter for players and Texas Longhorns QB Arch Manning is no exception. The whole of the 2024 season has seen Manning in and out of the gridiron. Thanks to Steve Sarkisian’s QB Quinn Ewers and his to-and-fro stints due to injuries. Finally, Manning will have the QB role all to himself now that Ewers is off to the NFL.

Now that he is at the helm, will he make the most out of the opportunity? A college football analyst discusses Manning in the driver’s seat of the Longhorns wagon. But no feat is easy in college football and Manning too has got another 1915-yard quarterback competitor.

Arch Manning lands in a sticky spot

Now Arch Manning is carrying some heavy burden on his shoulders. After all, he has the chance to be the first Longhorn to win the Heisman Trophy since 1998. So, it makes for a 27-year-old drought. Plus, he will have to keep the Manning legacy alive, following the legendary footsteps of his uncles Peyton and Eli Manning. But that looks like a faraway dream. As of now, he has the daunting task of leading Sarkisian’s program to their first National Championship since 2005. But there’s something more alarming. Manning’s first start as QB1 will be against this year’s National Champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes. However, it looks like the QB has already earned the trust. As J.D.PicKell placed him at No.5 in his list of “Top 10 SEC QBs.”

“I don’t think he’s going to crash the car that is Texas football reason why I feel that way,” PicKell said. Even though Manning’s 2024 stint has been short, it was a promising one. He threw for 969 yards, nine touchdowns, and added four rushing scores. Plus, he has been in the backseat for so long and has taken notes from Ewers’ driving. “He got two years to watch somebody else drive it and now he has arguably the greatest playcaller in the sport. And Steve Sarkisian. The other thing I like for him, I don’t think that he is going to be just totally leaned on from the jump.” Manning has taken a patient and methodical approach to his rise. The Longhorns will now use the QB to experiment with RPO checks and running the ball. But all that shines is not gold! Here comes a blow for Sarkisian’s QB with Florida Gators QB DJ Lagway.

PicKell places the 19-year-old player at No.4. And came with a bold remark, “He shown us more than Arch Manning to this point.” Lagway finished the year with 1,915 yards and 12 touchdowns against nine interceptions. This comes up with a 60% completion rate. The analyst stated, “Florida hasn’t had a guy like him at quarterback since Tim Tebow and that sounds big.”Now this is not the first time that Lagway left Manning in dust. 

Arch Manning snubbed from another On3 list

The rising sophomore DJ Lagway is undefeated in games that he started and finished in 2024. The Gators QB did find himself a spot in the Way-Too-Early All-America team. And guess what? Manning could not make it to the list. The On3’s list turned heads as they put Lagway on the pedestal ahead of the Longhorns QB. Now there is a good reason behind that. 

Manning hasn’t actually played extended snaps of college football during his two years at Texas. But even then, he got up the hype train and ended up getting compared to Tim Tebow. But while Tebow won the Heisman in his second year of college, Manning sat behind Quinn Ewers. Now Sarksian’s focus must be on his QB this season, but the program has already started to prepare for the post-Manning era.

This time it’s the Florida high school quarterback Dia Bell who is robbing away Arch Manning’s limelight. The young chap carries with himself some recommendable stats. As Josh Pate pointed out, “As a junior, he completed over 70% of his passes through for 2597 yards and 29 touchdowns, and he really added a running element to his game, went from just 86 yards as a sophomore to 561 as a junior, five rushing scores.” Plus he has been tagged as the ‘natural thrower’.

Bottom line? It’s a do-or-die year for Arch Manning.