Arch Manning shares what Quinn Ewers taught him about criticism as Texas QB

With great power, comes great responsibility for Arch Manning. No, he’s not Spider-Man, he’s just the Texas Longhorns quarterback.

It’s a pressure packed job. In fact, being a Division I quarterback is pressured packed regardless of where you are. But the expectations are certainly through the roof in 2025-26 for Texas and Manning.

Now that it’s his time to step up as the starter, following the departure of Quinn Ewers, Manning learned a thing or two from his former teammate. One of those key lessons was how to handle the pressure.

“Yeah, I would always talk with Quinn about that last year and I think for me he was a great example,” Manning said. “He handled that so well. I mean he didn’t look at the media, he was the same guy whether he was getting praise or not praise, so that was really cool to see.”

Manning got some starts in Ewers’ absence due to injury. The former No. 1 overall recruit played well when he had to and also when he was put into the game in certain packages.

He finished his second season with Texas 61-of-90 passing for 939 yards, nine touchdowns, two interceptions, 108 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Manning is pretty fleet of foot, so expect his rushing numbers to go up in Steve Sarkisian’s offense as well.

“Yes sir, definitely,” Manning said. “Any time you can get game reps, that’s just such a help and, um, I’m really glad I got to play in those games. Just, you know, the speed of the game. It’s also a good, um, way for me to play in front of people, in front of 100,000. That was definitely the biggest thing for me.”

With back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances, Manning taking the mantle of QB1 should cause some pundits to say title or bust this year. They were in the semifinals the last two years, so naturally the next step is the national title game led by Manning before he heads to the NFL.

As a member of the Class of 2023, Manning was a five-star-plus recruit out of New Orleans (La.) Isidore Newman, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 1 overall prospect in the state, the No. 1 quarterback in the class and the No. 1 overall prospect in the class.