Ryan Day Has Extreme Praise For Manning Family Ahead Of Week 1 Game

The Arch Manning era begins at Columbus

A bystander throughout his first year at Texas, Manning started three games in place of an injured Quinn Ewers early last season. The Louisiana native flashed immense potential by averaging 11.2 yards per pass attempt and accounting for 10 touchdowns in three victories.

Steve Sarkisian returned to a healthy Ewers, who relinquished two turnovers in a Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State. With Manning now serving as the QB1, Texas begins the season No. 1 in the AP poll, but still underdogs for Saturday's showdown at The Shoe.

There's immense hype in Austin, but Manning downplayed the notion of the Longhorns having a target on their backs in 2025.

"I think we kind of try to shift the narrative - we're going for everyone else," Manning told Anwar Richardson of Orangebloods.com. "The target's not on our back. We have a red dot on everyone else."

The Manning family is keeping a low profile

Other than Archie Manning claiming that Arch Manning plans to stay in school next year, a decision the 21-year-old denied making, the quarterback's relatives haven't made his life harder by creating more headlines.

None of the significant buzz around the younger Manning stems from his family. Archie even challenged what he perceived to be premature Heisman talk surrounding his grandson.

Day commended the elder Mannings for not making themselves part of the pre-game conversation. Instead, all the focus is on how Arch will handle the Buckeyes this Saturday afternoon.

"They've stayed out of it for the most part, because they want him to write his own story," Day said. "I got a lot of respect for how they've handled that. He's got a great future ahead of him, and he's a great player. So it's a great challenge for us.