Arch Manning gets an earful from his uncle about 'earning the respect' of his Texas teammates and coaches

While Shedeur Sanders grabbed the attention of the college football world over the last two years, it's time for Arch Manning to take over as the cover boy for the sport for at least the 2026 season. The Texas Longhorns are favored to win the National Championship on his back, and he's potentially the top pick in either of the next two NFL Drafts.

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, Arch's uncle, Eli Manning, had to weigh in on what he's seen so far from his nephew.

While expectations are for Arch to ascend to superstardom right away, only time will tell what happens. 

Manning looked the part as he completed 67.8% of his 90 throws for 939 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions. He added 108 yards and four scores on the ground. 

Eli thinks the most impressive thing is Arch's mentality.

"I think Arch has done a great job on just how he's handled these first two years of his college career," Manning said, per CBS Sports. " ... He's earned the respect of his teammates, his coaches, through his hard work, his dedication and excited to watch him this year. ... You see that hunger with him. He wants to get better, he wants to learn, he wants to ask. He asks me great questions, so excited to be there as part of his journey." 

Eli Manning broke down the challenge Arch will face when the Longhorns go to Ohio State for Week 1 of the college football season. The elder Manning, who played at Ole Miss, knows how hard it is to play on the road in marquee matchups against better opponents. This time, though, Texas may have the upper hand on the Buckeyes.

"It's not going to be an easy task, you open up your kind of your college career at Ohio State, defending champs on the road, but it'll be exciting and just happy for him, because I know how hard he's worked," Eli Manning said.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has continued to heap praise on the junior passer.

“Now that we’ve kind of embarked on the 2025 season, I just continue to see a guy that’s taken it and is really trying to really go for it,” Sarkisian said. “He just doesn’t want to leave any stone unturned. He’s working at his craft. He’s working so hard in the offseason conditioning runs.

"He’s now setting up those voluntary throwing sessions with the receivers during the week or on the weekend. He’s breaking the team down. All those natural things that a quarterback has to do to instill belief in his teammates, to instill belief in the staff, he’s doing it.”

We'll see if Arch indeed has the mental makeup to fulfill his potential, or if he'll need more time to get to his ceiling. Texas vs. Ohio State will easily be the most-watched game of the early college football slate, so the whole world will have hot takes either way.