Joel Klatt compares Arch Manning to Trevor Lawrence at Clemson

Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt is a big fan of Arch Manning and a believer in his potential this season and moving forward. He even compared him to how Trevor Lawrence grew at Clemson.

Manning sat for the last two years as a redshirt and backup to Quinn Ewers. Now it’s his time to try and deliver a national title to Texas in 2025-26.

Klatt already put Manning at No. 2 in his QB rankings heading into the season, despite Manning not being a full-time college starter yet. But he believes in him and the Longhorns’ signal caller exhibits a lot of traits of Lawrence, a former No. 1 overall pick.

“I believe Arch, I rated him … as the second best quarterback in college football going into next year. I’m a big believer,” Klatt said on The Herd. “Maybe that’s Kool Aid drinking, I’m not sure, but when I watch him play, he threatens every blade of grass on the field with a really strong arm, and he’s accurate and smart with it, and he’s he’s better throwing the ball down the field than even Quinn Ewers was and then all of a sudden, in those couple of starts that he got, he flashed this ability to run. I was like, ‘Whoa. That looks like Trevor Lawrence.’ So that’s my comp to Arch. 

“I think Arch is a lot of what we saw Trevor Lawrence become at Clemson. Lawrence had a lot of success early. Remember his true freshman year, they led him to a national championship. And I think Arch, the biggest question I have for Arch is not him, actually,it’s more about rebuilding that offensive line.”

Klatt actually isn’t worried about Manning this season, but more so his cast of characters. The good news is, there are playmakers back but the offensive line needs to be consistent, as Klatt pointed out.

“They get CJ Baxter back and healthy, they’ve recruited and hit the portal incredibly well all over their roster,” Klatt said. “That is a bona fide top end team in college football. They should start number one or number two in the country. And the question becomes like, what are they going to be on the offensive line? And if that unit plays well, I think Arch will be in New York. 

“I think that he’ll have a huge decision to make, whether he wants to come out and be a top three pick in the NFL draft or if he wants to stay at Texas (for) one more year and continue to develop. So I’m pretty high on Arch and I’m pretty high on Texas.”