Eli Manning reveals drilling footballs at Arch as a child to 'toughen him up'

Eli Manning wanted to make sure his nephew Arch Manning was ready to play football at a young age. The Texas freshman took some bullet passes from uncle Eli when he was a child.

That’s how Eli described throwing the football to Arch when the young Manning was just four years old and learning how to throw. Eli had to make sure Arch was going to be able to make it in a tough game.

Whatever he did, it worked out for Arch.

“I think my first catch with him, he was like four years old,” Eli, a two-time Super Bowl champion, said in an interview with People. “I’m just drilling balls at him and bouncing off so he didn’t cry. I had to toughen him up, and make sure he was tough enough to handle this.”

Arch Manning won’t start this year, barring some sort of injury to quarterback Quinn Ewers and if he’s ahead of fellow backup Maalik Murphy. But Eli said patience is a virtue.

“Be there, learn from the guys ahead of you, take mental reps during practice and during the games,” he said. 

Eli added it’s good to “always (be) ready to go out there and play” and to “just enjoy being in college.”

If Arch Manning gets into a game this season, all eyes will be on Austin, Texas, or wherever the Longhorns are playing that day. Expect Eli, and perhaps Peyton, to be in attendance with Arch’s father Cooper, maybe even grandpa Archie. But not this season most likely.

“I think we’ll wait to see how the schedule plays out, if he gets into any games… wait to see when he might be playing,” Eli said. “If that’s this year or next year, (I’ll) plan from there.”

Steve Sarkisian has yet to make the “QB2” decision yet, but both guys are up for the challenge.

“I think I think one of the cool things about pretty much every position group that you talked about, that’s why we practice throughout the week and that’s why they come with a real intent to work every day,” Sarkisian said Monday.

“Maalik and Arch right now, you know they’re both doing well and so you know, who do we feel like come Thursday is the guy that kind of earned that opportunity to be the backup this week? That’ll be who the backup is.”

Whenever he makes his official debut, Arch Manning will certainly be the talk of the town.