David Cutcliffe Reveals 1 Key Reason Why Arch Manning Chose Longhorns

The Manning family's longtime quarterback mentor provided some interesting insight as to why Arch chose Texas.

Zach Dimmitt | Aug 8, 2022

The Texas Longhorns stole the show of the college football offseason this summer when 2023 Isidore Newman (New Orleans) quarterback Arch Manning announced his commitment to Texas.

Regardless of where he committed to, Manning was already headed toward a world full of undivided media attention as he prepares for his freshman season in 2023.

But in a recruiting process that saw championship-level programs like Alabama and Georgia enter the Manning sweepstakes, he still chose Texas, to the confusion of many in the college football world.

The Manning family's longtime quarterback mentor and former Duke Blue Devils coach, David Cutcliffe, recently provided some interesting insight as to why Arch chose Texas.

“I think the fact Texas is joining the Southeastern Conference kind of put them in the game,” Cutcliffe told DawgNation. “I’ll go out on a limb, but when I looked at it, I thought, 'Hmm, Georgia is a big rival of Tennessee, and Alabama is a big rival of Ole Miss, and Ole Miss is Ole Miss.' So you can be in the conference but not be in direct competition with family, so to speak. Nobody may ever tell you — but that was my take on Texas being a good choice for him.”

Cutcliffe accepted a job as a special assistant to the commissioner for football relations in the SEC in March following early-offseason reports that he could potentially join Texas as a special assistant on the coaching staff.

Before his time at Duke, Cutcliffe was the head coach at Ole Miss from 1998 to 2004, where he was a major factor in the Rebels landing two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning.

Cutcliffe, who was the quarterbacks' coach for Tennessee from 1990 to 1998, was also a major reason for Super Bowl champion and former NFL MVP Peyton Manning's shocking signing with the Tennessee Volunteers in 1994.

Cutcliffe also recruited Arch's father, Cooper to Ole Miss, though his career was cut short due to spinal stenosis.

Despite Cutcliffe taking a different direction than Texas, his involvement in the SEC will keep him close to the Manning family once again as the Longhorns draws closer to arrival in the conference.