SI

Arch Manning, the Myth and the Future College Football Legend

The nation’s top quarterback recruit rarely speaks publicly, but those behind the scenes are ready to tell all about the Texas commit.

John Garcia Jr.

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NEW ORLEANS — The what is obvious by now, right? 

Arch Manning, the nephew of Super Bowl–winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning and the grandson of Archie Manning, has become arguably the most famous high school recruit in the U.S. since LeBron James in the early 2000s. At a minimum, he is the most talked about high school quarterback since Trevor Lawrence, with James-like pressure already circulating. 

On Wednesday, a whirlwind recruitment full of high-level contenders officially came to a close the moment he inked a national letter of intent with Texas. He will enroll in January in what will be the most-tracked freshman campaign in college football’s recent memory. 

Everyone but the Manning family plays a part in sustaining the hype. 

Manning was first featured in Sports Illustrated after his freshman varsity season, in 2019, when his production at New Orleans’s Isidore Newman School outweighed that of his uncles when they were at the helm at the school, throwing for nearly 2,500 yards and 34 touchdowns. Back then he was in the 6'2", 180-pound range, according to coach Nelson Stewart. 

Albert Brock, a performance trainer in the New Orleans area, was on hand to see Newman play that fall to support a wide receiver on the roster he was working with. That’s when Manning used his mobility, which many liken to his father, Cooper (who was a wide receiver), or his grandfather Archie, to buy time before firing a football some 60 yards down the field for a highlight-worthy score. 

“It was right on the back pylon,” Brock says. “It was like a young Pat Mahomes. ... The kid deserves all the attention he’s getting.”

Since the initial and national impression, Manning has added size, strength and much more in becoming the senior leader for the Greenies ahead of their latest deep playoff run. He finished the season by breaking plenty of family records, including the career yardage and touchdown mark halfway through the season. He did so despite a new offense and increased pressure. 

Even those who came out on the winning end against Newman, like fellow blue-chip recruit and USC linebacker commitment and Many (La.) High School state champion Tackett Curtis, admit that Manning has somehow lived up to the almost unattainable billing. 

“That’s probably one of the most fun games I’ve ever played in, because of that atmosphere,” Curtis says of the late-September matchup between then-undefeated teams. “Everybody from our town, everybody from the neighboring towns and Newman—they were all there.

“But man, he’s a really good player. All the hype behind his name, it’s for real. He can sling the ball. He was throwing some good balls. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”

Curtis says his teammates had more pep in their step when presented with the challenge of slowing down Manning—which they did enough to win 25–17—despite the eventual state champions sitting as favorites going into the game.

Those around Manning daily marvel at the arm talent, athleticism, improved mechanics and footwork he is about to bring to Texas. His coaches pound the table even more on the work ethic and personal growth shown in his emergence, just some of the markers for perhaps the next great quarterback.

Recruiting aside, the 17-year-old quarterback, basketball player and otherwise “normal” kid has been trying to be just that. There is minimal to no social media and even fewer interviews beyond the recruiting process.

“Archie is such a good kid,” Stewart says. "He really really has handled it with a great deal of maturity. He has no ego. He's not arrogant. He likes all of his coaches. ... He enjoys everybody, enjoys his teammates. 

“We just try and let him have a normal teenage existence at Newman.”

Of course normal is relative, and Manning’s recruitment was far from it. Stewart, who previously contested Newman product Odell Beckham Jr.’s recruitment was the most intense he’d been around, tells stories of an SEC assistant stopping by the school at sunrise this spring while another contending coach spent an entire school day at Newman, trying to pull any advantage toward recruiting his 6'4", 220-pound starting quarterback. 

When Manning committed to play football at Texas on June 23, it came via a tweet, his first and only post on the social media platform. It wasn’t the typical lengthy video or Apple notes app essay. There was no buildup, at least not originating from himself—just five words and a hashtag to celebrate his collegiate home. 

It's the most Arch thing yet. To the point and direct while the outside world debates how good he is, where he should be ranked (top 10 on SI All-American), why he is so highly coveted and whether he may be just a name. 

Amid all that back-and-forth from the industry, where he is ranked anywhere from the top prospect to top 10 at the lowest (as of late August), Manning was a reserve for Newman’s basketball team. Listed at small forward, Manning would cap his third season on the hardwood with a state championship while averaging just better than a bucket per outing. 

Everyone who watched him play says he was just fine with being that role player on the roster, with one onlooker calling him the best cheerleader on the team. Similar support from Manning was apparent while he ran track at Newman, with Stewart confirming straight-line speed as Manning was probably the fastest player on the football team heading into the 2022 season. 

Even in football, where he unseated a senior returning starter to kick off his varsity career in 2019, there is evidence of Manning wanting to just be considered one of the guys. During that freshman season, as it was apparent Manning was earning the QB1 job, senior Beau Adams still drove him home each day while the phenom was at the back of each practice line, like most freshmen. Adams would move to wide receiver and catch two touchdowns from Manning to kick off the ’19 season. He would help lead Newman to a soccer state championship that spring before enrolling at Colorado to work in the football recruiting department.

Stewart says during that initial season Manning was a typical first-year player beyond his role as the starting QB. He didn’t even dress in the varsity locker room and rode on the freshman bus that fall while becoming a national name, recruit and quarterback, in fact. While he no longer drifts to the back of workout or stretch lines, instead leading passing groups and teaching the offense to younger players, he still wants to be in the thick of team building for Newman. It was a theme all offseason, whether coming off the bench in hoops or prepping for team passing tournaments to wrap up the summer.

“Arch likes being a teammate,” Stewart says. “He likes being a part of a team. He likes competing. Kids love him, his teammates love him, his coaches love him. Some kids are maybe afraid to try another avenue, and they want mastery of one thing all the time. That’s a whole other skill set and that’s a whole other set of eyes to coach you, so I love it. I think his energy’s great. 

“You know, he is hard on himself ... but he did dunk.”

Back on the football field ahead of the 2021 season, Manning's personality, work ethic and overall presence led him to a title just one other Newman player held at the same age: team captain. Doing so as a junior was more about the example, though Stewart says it parlayed into more vocal leadership as the season wore on. 

In the final offseason before making the move to the Big 12 (eventually the SEC just like his uncles), Manning was blending both approaches, organizing workouts in the weight room and on the field while holding his younger teammates accountable along the way of helping to install the new-look offense Neman rolled out this year.

“He’s the first one in after school,” Stewart says. “There’s a growing trust. A lot of freedom there. We’ve grown as he’s grown.”

The coach has been around Manning since preschool, admittedly curious if his voice "echoes” in the senior’s head. “I think it’s important to hear a lot of other voices, too.”

There is a whole camp of people around the passer beyond his coach and famous family, as one would imagine. Each says Manning can turn it off at a moment’s notice, transforming from the most famous prep prospect of all time to a kid looking to make a good impression at a party with a joke or two. Otherwise, he’s with his teammates at a Newman sporting event or perhaps trying to get a round of golf in. 

David Morris has been in with the Manning family well before Arch came about. The founder of QB Country, a quarterback training and development company, he was in the same quarterback room as Eli Manning while at Ole Miss. The two have since become best friends, even though the younger Manning came in a year after Morris’s arrival in Oxford and took over the starting role in his second season. 

After time as roommates in college, Eli went on to the NFL while Morris began to foster his coaching career in training the two-time Super Bowl champion. It wasn’t long into the foundation of the youngest Manning's passing career before Morris was able to get to know the latest iteration. Cooper Manning, Arch’s father, would start getting the fellow videos of his oldest son spinning it better and better, thereafter. 

Arch was in middle school when the training from Morris picked up in pace, where not only his game but also his personality would flash in between reps. 

“He’s super competitive,” Morris says. “You know, he really wants to work hard. And sometimes you got to come and slow him down. He just he was obsessed with football.

“What stood out was just ... Arch is a great kid. You know, manners, grateful.”

The grounded nature of the Manning family, which carried over into Arch's recruitment in that he was rarely interviewed or subjected to traditional elements of the process, including social media usage, translates to other elements of his life. There is a sense he knows the spotlight will only grow at Texas, so everything beforehand is about taking it for what it’s worth. A combination of living in the moment and not allowing it to get too big, simultaneously.

Training sessions with Morris are about the “now.” He says rankings, accolades and any type of projected hype don’t come up. The family is of course aware of the so-called noise, but contends their reputation is more about work than anything else. 

Arch Manning
Manning eludes a defender during Friday’s preseason scrimmage versus Holy Cross / Chansey Augustine

Arch has embodied that part of the process, in particular, labeled even as a “gym rat” by the longtime trainer. “He always wants to be lifting, running or throwing,” Morris says. “It’s what all the good ones have.”

In between workouts, the word “normal” is again common when asked to describe Manning beyond the game. The internal switch of when to be the quarterback and/or leader can seemingly be toggled at will. 

“I think he’s good at it," Morris says. “I think he’s real balanced. He’s intense. But he’s also somewhat laidback. So in that sense, you kind of see a little Eli in there, right? Just kind of that intense competitor. There was not a more competitive person on our team at Ole Miss. I think Arch has that. They can turn it off. Arch can turn it off and go play basketball. ... And I think that’s important, because I think that it creates natural rest periods.”

Those times for rest appear far and few between. Manning has been trying to round out all elements of his game, including the lower-body power and speed that can help him make plays when his arm isn't the focus. 

For this work, physical and mental, Brock has been a more recent constant in Manning’s life. He operates the training facility in New Orleans and dug into the person before anything about the player came up in his conversation with SI. The first memory shared had nothing to do with training Manning or even football. 

Brock says basketball has been Manning’s outlet for reasons more than the physical, though it certainly keeps him in shape. It's where his friends at Newman play, in addition to the lacrosse team featuring his younger brother, Heid (who also plays on the football team's offensive line). It’s also where an impression of Manning would be met with renewed perspective compared to the perception of what a top-10 recruit may be willing to do for the team. 

“When you watch one of the games, he’s really on the bench being a big cheerleader,” Brock says. "He waits for his name to be called. He’s there for the team, and that says so much about the kid. He just loves being around his friends and part of the reason he’s doing it.”

The trainer, who also works with many Louisiana natives from the youth level through the NFL, has had big names in his facility over the two years of its existence. 

Still, he admits when Manning is in session it creates a unique impact. “I love to evaluate kids moving through the room,” Brock says. “Obviously, when he’s in the room the presence is felt—it’s Archie Manning. But he always interacts with other kids first, which told me a lot about his character. A lot of kids, they train next to Archie and may feel intimidated, but he’s very approachable. 

“He’s very laidback and chill. It’s simple. He’s proactive, though. He’ll take initiative himself and start to talk to other kids or get to work [when he’s here].”

Once the sessions get going, Brock says the duo shift from casual conversation to about business. Carrying around that last name, conventional thought suggested Brock was to expect a person who would know more than most his age. Instead, Manning presents openly.

Manning came to Brock to “get his feet right” in hopes of, almost jokingly, being listed as a dual-threat quarterback by recruiting outlets. That part hasn’t come full circle just yet, but the maneuverability of the quarterback has improved along with his strength and mass. 

Not that it's enough for Manning, per Stewart.

“He’s pretty hard on himself,” his coach says. “He’s his biggest critic, but it makes him special.”

It will take said special effort for Manning to check about the only box his illustrious lineage hasn’t on the football field—a state championship. Just don’t expect the two-time team captain to verbalize it any time between now and when the season ends at the Caesars Superdome the second week of December. 

“He’s just very coachable,” Brock says. “He’s something special.

“If Arch is in the room and you didn't know his last name, you won’t be able to tell he was a Manning.”

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John Garcia Jr.
JOHN GARCIA JR.

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