Greg McElroy explains Arch Manning's 'heavy burden' as Texas' starting QB in 2025

Texas quarterback Arch Manning is already viewed as one of the top QBs in college football, despite having made just two starts in his college career. That’s understandable given the fact that he was the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2023 and is from the greatest quarterback family of all time.

ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy believes that Arch Manning is worthy of all the hype he is receiving, but he also warned that Manning is carrying a heavy burden as he takes over the Texas starting quarterback job.

“Look, Arch has a heavy burden. Let’s just acknowledge. Because I think us as American sports fans, we acknowledge, we see the last name Manning, and we think he’s the next great American quarterback,” Greg McElroy said Friday on SportsCenter. “He’s the guy that is best positioned to challenge Patrick Mahomes at the next level, because why wouldn’t he be? That’s what I think people think.”

There is a big difference between being one of the best quarterbacks in college football and being ready to challenge Patrick Mahomes, but according to McElroy, some have that expectation of Manning.

McElroy feels like a portion of football fans are expecting too much from Manning.

“Now, I don’t know if that’s fair, because Arch needs to be Arch,” McElroy said. “He’s not today Peyton. He’s not today Eli. He just needs to be himself, and that’s a really heavy burden to deal with.”

While Arch Manning has plenty of developing to do before he is ready to be an elite NFL quarterback, McElroy does feel like he is on his way to being one. He wouldn’t be surprised at all if he is a high draft pick, before going on to be extremely successful in the NFL.

Patience is important, though, according to McElroy.

“If you go off skillset, mobility, fundamentals, processing ability, and frankly a lot of playing quarterback is who do you surround yourself with and who are the people that you’re getting advice from? His uncles, I think, are pretty good guys to be able to give advice,” McElroy said. “So I think a lot of that, he checks a million boxes. So there’s reason to believe he’s got a tremendously high ceiling and has a very bright future.”

Arch Manning finished with 939 passing yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 67.8 percent of his passes in 2024. Manning also rushed for 108 yards and four scores. 

It will be fun to see how he plays in his first year as a starter and how he develops in the years to come.