Steve Sarkisian’s got some brainstorming to do. Of course, Texas just set a program record with 12 players drafted into the NFL. That’s no small feat, a one-player upgrade from last season’s 11 draft picks. The vibes in Austin should be nothing but confetti and champagne after a historic 2024 season. But behind those celebrations, a real concern is quietly creeping up on the Longhorns’ golden boy, Arch Manning. 

Let’s not get it twisted though. Arch Manning has every making of a star QB. When he got his chances last year, he proved the hype by throwing for 939 yards and nine TDs in limited action. But now he’s the guy without Quinn Ewers’ safety net. Now, it’s National Championship time, and suddenly, concerns are all over the place.

Cooper Petagna dropped the hammer in a new episode on 247Sports on April 28. “They’re losing 3-4 offensive linemen, I think this year, so you think about who are the guys protecting your franchise quarterback,” he said. “They got Trevor Goosby who played really good in spots and a guy that they can be able to depend on.” The 6’7 redshirt freshman made a case for himself as a bright spot but raised doubt about the rest, especially at right tackle. 

Cooper Petagna’s concern is loud and clear—“But what about right tackle? What about Brandon Baker? What does that look like?” Brandon Baker is the name floating around. Big bodied at 6’4” and 315 pounds, big upside, four-star pedigree. But this isn’t the Mountain West; it’s the SEC. And if he struggles early, that spotlight on Arch Manning is going to turn into a pressure cooker. So, the solution? 

“If they had that one spot, let me just make sure I got a tackle that I can bring in and push Brandon Baker, and if he’s not good enough, I got another guy that I can rely on. And yeah, maybe you have to overpay for that insurance policy, but what we’ve seen out of Texas and what we know is they’re not scared to spend money,” Petagna added. “So I would’ve thought they would’ve  been a little more aggressive on the offensive line and the trenches to go out and make sure that, hey if it doesn’t work here, we gotta make sure that we protect arguably the most marketable face in all of college football for the next two years.” 

Now, the crux of this issue is that Steve Sarkisian is losing four of five O-linemen from the 2025 lineup. Only DJ Campbell is returning. Top-10 NFL draft pick Kelvin Banks Jr. and vets like Hayden Conner and Cameron Williams are gone to the NFL. Four-year starter Jake Majors ran out of eligibility. That’s a whole lot of snaps and chemistry gone. In their place? Promising replacements, but no guarantee. And that doesn’t help Arch Manning, who’ll be under close scrutiny in 2025. Here’s where it gets more interesting. 

Arch Manning isn’t listed in Top-10 QB list

Greg McElroy gave Arch Manning some love in the ESPN College Football Show, hyping his skill set, his pedigree, and how Steve Sarkisian developed him. But he didn’t put him in the top-10 list of the Always College Football annual quarterback rankings. Why?

“It’s very hard for me to ever justify putting a first-year starter ahead of guys that have actually done it when the bullets are flying,” Greg McElroy stated. Arch Manning may have scored great numbers against teams like UTSA, Louisiana, and Mississippi State, but he was pressured in big games, especially the SEC title game against Georgia, where he suffered a sack fumble. 

Even his dad, Cooper Manning, didn’t sugarcoat anything. “Arch is going to have plenty more of those (bumps). These are the real ones, when you get beat this year and have bad games,” he said on the Dan Patrick Show. “I mean, you know how they do it in the media, they crown you way too early and then they jump on and kill ya. So he’s getting way too much attention and way too much credit and he’s going to struggle, and they’re going to say ‘He’s not as good, he’s overrated!’ It’s coming, everybody knows it.”

So yeah, Arch Manning is talented. But if Texas doesn’t shore up that O-line and get him time to breathe, his potential might go down the drain. Well, we’ll see what happens.