Arch Manning's humble ESPN interview makes it clear why he's the center of Texas' national championship hype

Ten days have elapsed since the 2024 college football season ended. Twenty days have gone by since the Texas Longhorns saw their campaign end at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes. The calendar still says January. Yet Arch Manning, the starting quarterback for the 2025 Texas Longhorns, was the subject of a recent sit-down interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith.

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That’s not meant to be an indictment. And the fact that Smith took the time to sit down with Manning is no coincidence, either. The son of Cooper, nephew of Peyton and Eli, and grandson of Archie is the next superstar in football’s first family, and probably didn’t mind stepping into the Worldwide Leader’s spotlight to promote an NIL deal with Red Bull during the lull between the Cotton Bowl and the start of winter workouts.

Manning was his normal, humble self throughout the interview, expressing the team-first mentality so often seen from his uncles and grandfather, talking about his life as a Longhorn, and sharing stories that humanize him and the other Mannings like they are any other American family.

Don’t be fooled. Few other college football players, and players at few other programs, would be offered the type of spotlight ESPN afforded to Manning in January.

Manning, who On3’s Ari Wasserman recently named as the No. 8 returning player in college football in 2025, can and likely will do everything to remain humble and be the best teammate possible, something he reiterated to be a focus of his over and over during the 18 minute sit-down with Smith. Despite that humility, the conversation arguably kickstarts an offseason hype train rarely seen in college football.

Asked by Smith why he thinks there’s so much excitement around a redshirt sophomore, Manning wasn’t so sure.

“I haven’t done anything,” Manning said, echoing a similar sentiment multiple times in the interview. “I’ve started two football games. There’s a lot more guys that have done a lot more than me. But I’m trying to get there.”

To Manning’s credit, he has tried to avoid the spotlight as best as possible. Smith mistakenly asked Manning about his Lamborghini. Manning had to correct him and say it belonged to Michael Taaffe but he added that he was able to ride in it with his Longhorn teammate. That line of thinking was accentuated when he explained why he didn’t take part in many NIL deals during his first two years on the 40 Acres. Manning mentioned he didn’t want to take opportunity away from someone else. The example he gave Jake Majors, who entered the season with 40 starts and more deserving of NIL reimbursement in Manning’s mind.

Filling the backup role behind Quinn Ewers might have helped Manning solve the challenge of the spotlight, but not taking first-string snaps was a difficult assignment for Manning. That applies not only to this past season, but to 2023 as well when he was the third stringer behind Ewers and Maalik Murphy. Manning joked he had started at quarterback since his freshman year at Isidore Newman, and that the only time he came off the bench was as a sixth man in basketball.

Now that Ewers is off to the NFL, Manning is entering the role he sought when he originally committed and signed with Texas.

Any sort of preseason look at Manning is going to factor in a number of things. Obviously, his family will be one of those. Manning said he hears from and receives advice from his uncles all the time. He and his brother Heid were even the target of Manning juvenile antics the likes of which were seen in the classic “This Is SportsCenter” commercial with Archie and his three sons.

This usually happens at the Manning Passing Academy at Nichols State during the summer.

“Wedgies and stuff like that,” Arch explained.

Manning said he feels like his game is most similar to his Ole Miss grandfather’s style of play, but he has learned lessons from Peyton and Eli leading up to this point.

All that has prepared him to be part of the Steve Sarkisian offense he chose to play for despite the Longhorns coming off a 5-7 season. There’s good reason to be excited for Manning in Sark’s offense. Manning believes he’s coached hard by not just Sarkisian, but also quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee. He believes he’ll be in the right position on a regular basis with Sarkisian.

“I think he fits his offense and his play-calling to his players,” Manning said. “That’s what I like most about him. He’s smart. He’s innovative. He wants to win. He’s a competitive guy. He works really hard, prepares, and he gets us in the right position to win games.”

With as much attention as Manning and the Longhorns are set to receive — again, this is still a late-January interview with a quarterback that has started two games in his career — Arch explained how he stays grounded despite the constant notoriety on campus…

“Keep moving,” he said when talking about how he accommodates requests for selfies.

How he tries to be a regular teammate despite coming from the most famous football family in America…

“Just to be a good guy,” Manning said about the best advice he’s received from his grandfather.

And how he has to overcome a little bit of adversity each time he takes the field to raucous cheers…

“I just get nervous it’s too loud. I don’t want to get a pre-snap penalty on the first snap. Other than that, it’s cool,” he explained.

Manning knows a deal like the one with Red Bull, which he mentioned he enjoys for morning meetings while wearing a Red Bull hat in the interview, will only increase his profile. Whether you believe in the On3 NIL Valuation system or not, there’s a reason he’s the No. 1 athlete in the rankings and easily clears other stars like Cooper Flagg, Carson Beck, and Livvy Dunne. There’s a reason that Manning and Jeremiah Smith are the only college football players to have a partnership with the energy drink brand.

He’s going to be the most talked-about college football player until he takes the field August 31 against Ohio State, and likely after that point as well as the Longhorns continue in their second campaign in the SEC.

Manning will be part of an offseason hype train possibly not seen at Texas since 2005, and maybe even dating back to when Ricky Williams returned for his senior season in order to break Tony Dorsett‘s record during Mack Brown‘s first year as head coach of the Longhorns.

That will all be going on around him, but Manning will attempt to remind himself of why he’s in the spotlight in the first place.

“I think you’ve just got to remember you’re playing a game,” Manning said. “Everyone’s doing it around the country. Don’t make it more than it is. You’re out here playing football.”

And the end goal is a big one. When asked where he wants to be in one year, Manning had a simple task he wanted to achieve before anything related to his own individual success. It’s one that will set offseason discussion about the Longhorns, and the sport, until toe meets leather on August 31.

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“I hope we’re national champions,” Manning said.