Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Aaron Murray against the Florida Gators. Kim Klement-Imagn Images

Former Georgia QB Drops Bizarre Arch Manning Take

Originally posted on Texas Longhorns on SI
By Jon Alfano | Last updated May 20, 2025 3:41 PM ET

They hype surrounding Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning is palpable as he takes over the starting job, but there is a debate over whether or not that hype is warranted.

Manning was the unanimous top recruit in the country coming out Isidore Newman School in Louisiana, and he has shown promise in his limited action with the Longhorns. However, there's a significant number of people who believe the hype is solely due to his last name and not anything he's actually done on the field. That's absolutely a significant part of the hype, but it's not the sole reason.

Aaron Murray, a former star quarterback at Georgia, falls into that camp, but for a very odd reason. During an appearance on SiriusXM, Murray used Quinn Ewers' fall to the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and the fact that Manning didn't pass him on the depth chart, as reason to doubt the latter's ability.

“So all in all, Quinn Ewers had a disappointing season, and it reflected in his draft stock,” Murray said. “If you are so good and everyone has you projected number one pick in the NFL Draft, come 2026, why in the hell are you not playing above a seventh-round quarterback? If Steve Sarkisian knows what he’s doing and he knows how good their roster is, which I’ve talked to a lot of coaches and a lot of different teams and I asked them, like, what are the top rosters? Ohio State, Texas, probably Georgia.

"What was holding them back? Quinn Ewers. Why was Arch not playing? It’s like that rubs me the wrong way a little bit.”

It's completely reasonable to have reservations about Manning given his lack of experience, but this is a very strange way of justifying those reservations.

Fair or not, coaches will almost always give the edge to an experienced quarterback over a younger one with more potential. However, that does not mean that younger quarterback can't thrive when their time comes.

For a recent example, Drake Maye sat behind fifth-round pick Sam Howell for his first season at North Carolina, then excelled throughout his two years as a starter and worked his way up to being the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Besides, Manning's patience is refreshing in an age when many players will just run to the transfer portal at any sign of adversity, and hopefully that patience will be rewarded.

This article first appeared on Texas Longhorns on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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