Arch Manning enters game vs. Texas Tech, makes college football debut

Friday night, Texas fans saw something they’ve been waiting for all year. Arch Manning made his collegiate debut.

Manning took the field in the third quarter against Texas Tech with the Longhorns ahead 50-7 at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. He replaced Quinn Ewers, who left amid the blowout nature of the game.

On his first series, Manning took three carries for seven yards and threw two passes.

Manning — the son of Cooper, grandson of Archie and nephew of Peyton and Eli — arrived in Austin with plenty of hype from the recruiting trail. He was a Five Star Plus+ recruit, meaning he was one of the only players ranked by all four major recruiting media companies as a five star. The Isidore Newman (LA) product was the No. 1-ranked player in the nation from the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

There have been a few moments this year where it looked like Manning would make his debut, particularly after Ewers suffered an injury. Maalik Murphy has served as Ewers’ primary backup this year, and he got the start against BYU while Manning served as QB2. Heading into the game, Steve Sarkisian hinted the former top recruit could get some looks if the situation warranted.

However, Manning didn’t see the field, and Sarkisian said things weren’t going as well as they should’ve for his young quarterback to enter the game.

“I just wanted to try to find a little more rhythm offensively,” Sarkisian said. “We just weren’t into the flow that I would have liked. Maybe if we could have punched a couple of those drives in when we got stopped inside the five. But we didn’t. To me, it was making sure we had enough rhythm with Maalik in there.”

Even though he hasn’t played yet this year, Manning has still been impressing in practice. Sarkisian said he’s learning more about what he brings to the table and how he can make an impact when the time came for him to make his debut.

That happened Friday night.

“For me with Arch, I’m learning more and more and more about his skillset,” Sarkisian said of Manning. “One thing that I’ve been really impressed with him is his conviction and ability to throw the ball down the field with a great deal of accuracy. Which sometimes is hard to tell in high school, especially when they’re not the style of offense that we are, they have some aspects of it.”