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Built For Burnt Orange: Fate Played a Role in Landing and Keeping Arch Manning

by:RT Young•04/11/25
Arch Manning
Arch Manning (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

On3 reported yesterday Tennessee and Volunteers starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava are in active contract negotiations. “It is unclear if the negotiations will impact whether he enters the spring transfer portal.” A public leverage play by an agent over a collegiate athlete’s “salary.” It’s just another surprise signpost on the winding and twisting journey that has been NIL.

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It also comes days before a momentous House settlement with the NCAA might upend the sport yet again. But yet, all I could think about while reading about Iamaleava was the video of a 12-year-old Arch Manning wearing a Longhorn shirt saying, “I want to go to Texas.” (Joe Cook wrote about this yesterday too.)

The turbulent four years of NIL and the transfer portal have made college football unrecognizable at times. It also can serve to damage a fan’s relationship with the sport. Jordan Addison wins the Biletnikoff Trophy at Pitt, is destined to be a Pittsburgh folk hero, but is gone six months later. But for every example like that, there are just as many or more which show that recruiting the right profile of player to a school still matters. And that’s where I come back to Arch Manning in the burnt orange shirt.

Steve Sarkisian played all of his cards right when it comes to Manning and his family. He only offered one quarterback in the 2023 class, he cast the vision of bringing Texas back which struck a chord with Manning, he built up the trenches and skill positions before Manning got to campus. Also, AJ Milwee essentially living in New Orleans was reminiscent of Darrell K Royal’s coaches taking up residence in the Tyler hotels nearby a young Earl Campbell. Texas and Sark played all the cards right to get Manning and to keep Manning in Austin for two years when national pundits blindly declared he’d transfer.

But it’s ignorant to ignore the fact Texas had a built-in advantage with Manning. Arch profiled to Texas, as Eric Nahlin constantly wrote about during his recruitment.

Him being here and staying here stands in contrast with so many of the players Texas A&M landed during their 2022 class. Would they have ever ended up in College Station without money? The mass exodus of that class tells the story.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that recruiting kids only based on profile can backfire when culture and foundation aren’t fortified. I’m sure there are a lot of players on USC’s team right now who love going to school by the Pacific Ocean but aren’t bought into Lincoln Riley’s cooking or being Trojan football players.

All that to say, if Arch’s name had been Archie Smith, just an affluent kid from New Orleans, he probably would’ve ended up in Austin for college. It’s where he wanted to be. When the pontificating national sports writers of the world who haven’t been to DKR since 2007 declared Manning would transfer because of Quinn Ewers, they ignored something extremely valuable which we don’t give enough credit to in the NIL era. Manning likes Austin, he enjoys going to school at UT.

“There was nowhere else I wanted to be. I want to be at Texas. I’ve got friends here. Love this place. I want to be the quarterback at the University of Texas. Sometimes, it’s worth the wait.” Manning told reporters yesterday in his first media availability as the Longhorns QB1.

So that’s what I come back to when I read stories like the Iamaleava one. He was in the same recruiting class as Manning, but the NIL aspects of his recruitment were highly covered. I have no idea if a five-star Polynesian quarterback from Long Beach, California would have chosen Knoxville, Tennessee to play quarterback in the pre-NIL era. But I have my doubts.

A lot of people will throw a wet blanket on the theory. Some might say, “I’d go to school or work anywhere if they paid me X.” But that’s patently false. You wouldn’t thrive at a place you’re expected to perform at a high level if you’re miserable, if you don’t want to be connected to it for the rest of your life, no matter how much you’re getting paid. Have you ever only worked at a place because of the money? Then gotten screwed out of a commission or something you were owed? The trust never comes back and the exit signs never stop being eyed.

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The stars aligned in so many ways for Texas to get to where they are with Arch Manning now leading the team. Some of those stars were shoved into place by the Longhorns and Sarkisian’s dogged hustle and relentless recruitment. Some stars were in formation because of fate, which can never be ignored.

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