Arch Manning was the consensus No. 1 overall player in the 2023 college football recruiting class when looking across all services.
But does the fact that his name is Manning have something to do with that?
That's the opinion of long-time college football recruiting analyst Mike Farrell, who thinks that his family connection drastically inflated his scouting profile.
"If his last name wasn't Manning, he would be a 3-star," Farrell said of the player who committed to play at Texas in 2023.
Manning is a more than capable passer in the pocket and has athletic ability to move and create plays with his legs.
But other quarterback recruits in the 2023 class seem to jump off the film with their mobility, arm strength, and deep-field accuracy.
Arch Manning "hasn't progressed"
"He plays a very low level of competition, he hasn't progressed," Farrell said of Manning.
"He had a really good freshman season, I wouldn't say regression but he hasn't progressed. And when he has had to step up against other competition, especially the playoff game where he looked awful, it just hasn't translated.
"Now, the Manning name is important. It's not just the name but what goes into that. Cooper was a tremendous athlete. Obviously Eli and Peyton and Archie are great football minds. This kid has been taught from a young age. You have to assume based on the success of everyone else in that family. Cooper would have been very good as an athlete had he not had that athlete, that he's going to be good.
"So, high 3-star if the last name was Smith, throw in the Manning name to get to a 4-star, I'm not sure if you get to 5 though. Every time I watch other quarterbacks in this class it knocks Arch down in my head.
"That's not his fault. He's not participating, he's not competing, and this is all summer ball it's all about routes on air. But every time I look at a Malachi Nelson or Dante Moore I like them better. And I've got Arch sliding into the 5th/6th range in this class."
Arch Manning stats
As a junior at Isidore Newman in New Orleans, Manning threw for 1,947 yards and 26 touchdowns to four interceptions with another seven rushing scores.
In his high school career, he’s thrown for 6,307 yards as a starter in three seasons with 81 touchdowns passing and 19 rushing.
He averages almost 13 yards per pass, over 212 passing yards per game, and has 18 career interceptions.
More must-reads: