Explaining Arch Manning's ranking on Ari Wasserman top 10 returning college football players for 2025

On3’s Ari Wasserman ranked his top 10 returning college football players for the 2025 season earlier this week. One player who made the list as a controversial selection is Texas quarterback Arch Manning.

The rising junior has thrown for less than 1,000 yards so far in his college career, but there is no doubt that he is talented. Wasserman spoke on Andy and Ari On3 on Thursday about why he included Arch Manning at No. 8 on his list.

“I think there’s this notion out there that Arch Manning is just included because he’s famous. And that’s not at all why I did,” Ari Wasserman said. “It’s not like he was in the headline or anything. That’s just what I think.

“There’s two ways of looking at this – 1 is what did they do already? How many touchdowns did they throw for? How many snaps did they play, how many tackles do they have? What is their already proven production? Or, what you think the best players are going to be next year. And I think that there’s a distinction between those two things.”

It’s clear that Wasserman feels like Manning will be one of the 10 best players in the country in 2025, thanks to several factors. Manning has really good arm strength, is an accurate passer and is also an excellent runner.

After throwing for 939 yards, with nine touchdowns and two interceptions in 2024 while playing behind Quinn Ewers, he will be the unquestioned starter for Texas in 2025. Manning also rushed for 108 yards and four touchdowns this season.

On3’s Andy Staples understands why Wasserman included Arch Manning.

“I didn’t have a problem with him being on there, because what we saw from him was very exciting,” Staples said. “He was on a team that is loaded with talent, had a veteran starter. … I think we’ve seen enough of Arch Manning to know that he’s going to be good. It’s a limited sample size but it’s not that limited.”‘

The one pushback from Staples was that he feels like South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers should have been included over Arch Manning based on the fact that he excelled during his first season as the starter for the Gamecocks.

“I would say LaNorris Sellers is demonstrably a better quarterback than Arch Manning right now until Arch Manning does something to show he’s better. And you don’t have LaNorris on the list.” Staples said.

Wasserman admitted that he strongly considered Sellers and acknowledged that Sellers may be the better quarterback.

To be fair, Wasserman did have Sellers as his first player under consideration who was not included.

“If you want to get into a screaming, boxing match over LaNorris over Arch, I don’t feel like you’re an asshole for thinking that,” Wasserman said. “I think LaNorris Sellers is amazing. That’s not a hill I would die on.”