Archie Manning praises how Arch, Cooper handled recruiting process

NFL legend Archie Manning is the head of an iconic football family comprising of various quarterbacks, with the latest being his grandson Arch Manning. Arch was the No. 1 rated recruit in the nation in the 2022 class according to On3’s Industry Rankings, and is now enrolled at Texas and participating in spring practice. Archie spoke on ESPN’s SportsCenter on his grandson’s journey and recruitment that led him to Austin, which he apparently took with a hands off approach.

“Well I totally stayed out of the way,” Manning said. “I was very proud of his dad, the way he handled the recruiting. You know recruiting’s changed so much since my boys went through it and I’m not sure all of it’s good. Cooper kind of took an old-fashioned approach and the whole family made their visits to various schools and just let Arch make his own decision where he wanted to go.”

Being the No. 1 quarterback in the nation already comes with pressure when deciding which school you’ll attend out of high school, but when your last name is Manning and your uncles have a couple of Super Bowl rings, the pressure only increases.

Archie spoke on how Arch narrowed down and honed in on his top schools, and had to turn down two of college football’s greatest coaches of all time.

“But I think he did his due diligence, I think he took a great look at a lot of schools. I know he made four visits to Texas, four visits to Georgia, four visits to Alabama, I know he had a hard time telling coach Saban and coach Smart no but he made his choice and he wanted to play for coach Sark and he’s over there enrolled now,” Manning said.

Arch is now getting his first taste of being a collegiate student-athlete, participating in college classes and spring practice for the first time. His grandfather gave him a visit at one of Texas’ practices and gave his feedback on how the next Manning gun slinger has looked.

“I went over last week, really to watch some golf, but got to watch practice and he looks like he belongs and he’s real happy. And he’s still just a high school senior really, but I think every young man should enjoy college experience and I hope he can enjoy his,” Manning said.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian has given positive feedback on how Manning has looked so far this spring, as he competes with another former No. 1 ranked high school quarterback Quinn Ewers for the Longhorns’ starting job.