With hopes of landing Arch Manning, Texas possibly hiring David Cutcliffe

Steve Sarkisian and Texas want Five-Star Plus+ quarterback Arch Manning out of New Orleans Isidore Newman to suit up in Burnt Orange for his college career.

He is looking to make a staff hire that could make that happen.

Sarkisian is looking to hire David Cutcliffe, who served as Duke’s head coach from 2008-2021, to an off-field role within the organization.

Cutcliffe is one of the most important mentors in the lives of Arch Manning’s uncles Peyton and Eli Manning. He coached both players at the college level and the two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks have a tremendous relationship with him.

Arch Manning is ranked as the top prospect in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

He currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $1.6 million, which is the best among high school football players in the On3 NIL 100. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

David Cutcliffe’s connection to Arch Manning’s family

David Cutcliffe coached both Peyton and Eli Manning in college. He was Peyton’s quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at Tennessee and then was the head coach for Eli at Ole Miss.

Both player had tremendous success under Cutcliffe. Peyton Manning won the Maxwell Award and was a consensus All-American his senior season. Eli Manning then won the Maxwell Award his senior season and was also a second-team All-American.

Peyton and Eli were both drafted No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft.

It would not be surprising at all if the Manning family wanted Arch Manning to work with Cutcliffe.

“There are coaches and then there are teachers and (Cutcliffe) was both,” Manning told the Denver Post. “Instead of making me memorize the offense, he helped me learn it and say, ‘This is what we’re trying to do with this play. Here’s the follow-up play to that play because we’ve set the defense up and can now do this.’ He harped on the fundamentals and was great on that every day in practice and in the film room. Also, he knew I was a freshman and I was nervous and young and it was a big jump from 2A football in Louisiana to the Southeastern Conference. He condensed the offense to where I could feel comfortable. And then obviously after my freshman year, I got more comfortable and we opened things up.”