Joel Klatt Defends Where He Ranked Arch Manning On Top 10 College Football QB List

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nate Lunak | Last updated May 19, 2025 1:02 PM ET

It's an exciting time for the Texas Longhorns, as quarterback Arch Manning, who has sat behind Quinn Ewers for two seasons, will finally get his opportunity to take the reins and lead the offense.

Despite the season still far away, he's already facing several lofty expectations, with Will Backus of CBS Sports even labeling him as a "contender" in the 2025 Heisman Trophy race.

The hype only continues to grow, because a video posted to "The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast" YouTube channel, the Fox Sports analyst ended up placing Manning at No. 2 when ranking the top 10 quarterbacks

"Arch Manning is going to be No. 2," Klatt said. "I know he only started two games last year, and I'm always big on experience, but if you see him play in those two games?... Arch is going to be really good. Again, I know it's a projection, and I know that maybe some of this is his last name, but it's just going to work out... I think Arch is going to be an absolute star. I will be shocked if it does not work out for Arch at Texas.

To Klatt's point, Manning was solid in those two starts, completing 41-of-60 passes for 583 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions, while also rushing for one touchdown.

In total throughout his college career, he's appeared in 12 games, completing 63-of-95 passes for 969 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions while also having 115 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

Of course, it's not as though these expectations have come out of thin air, though, as On3 Industry rankings placed him as a five-star recruit and the No. 1 quarterback in the 2023 recruiting class.

It will now remain to be seen if Manning can quickly get to work in helping prove Klatt right, as Texas will be taking on the Ohio State Buckeyes for their first game of the year on Aug. 30, where the Longhorns are three-point underdogs, per ESPN BET.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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