Texas quarterback Arch Manning wowed plenty of folks with his big performance in the Longhorns' spring game last weekend.
The former five-star recruit, who will serve as the backup to Quinn Ewers to start the 2024 season (barring injury), completed 19-of-26 passes for 355 yards and three touchdowns.
Manning's performance drew rave reviews from analysts throughout the sport with seemingly everyone heaping praise on the New Orleans native.
Well, almost everyone.
College football analyst Mike Farrell of MikeFarrellSports.com (previously of Rivals.com) poured some cold water this week on Manning's impressive spring game performance.
Farrell suggested that Manning's big game was only because of a "soft" defensive approach.
"Manning is on track to be a valuable backup this season and start in 2025, and his improvement from last spring to this spring looks impressive, but let’s pump the brakes," wrote Farrell. "The Spring Game was clearly set for him to have a big day with no attempt at a pass rush and a soft defense."
While I agree that it's never wise to put much stock into a spring game performance -- it's a glorified practice, after all -- I'm not sure that Farrell's take is fair.
That's mostly because Manning's performance in the Texas spring game in 2023 was picked apart after he completed just 5-of-13 passes for 30 yards.
Consider this note from On3 after the 2023 Texas spring game:
"When looking at the Texas spring game box score, the stats from Manning do not pop. He completed just five of 13 throws, going for 30 yards. Turning on the film will not help either as defenders were constantly closing in on the quarterback and making him uncomfortable."
Last year, Manning was criticized for facing too much pressure and passing for just 30 yards. This year, he was criticized for not facing enough pressure while passing for over 300 yards.
It's a lose/lose situation for Manning. If he wouldn't have performed well in this year's spring game, analysts everywhere would've hopped on the "Arch is overrated" bandwagon.
And even though he did perform well, it's getting dismissed by Farrell because it was a spring game.
It seems like Arch's famous last name has led to more criticism for the young quarterback than anything else. Perhaps it's time to stop suggesting that the "Manning name" is a blessing. Because ultimately, it feels like all it's done for Arch is put a major target on his back.
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