Steve Sarkisian on Arch Manning: 'He’s got all the attributes needed to be a really good quarterback'
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian admitted Wednesday that Arch Manning‘s commitment to the Longhorns arrived a little earlier than the UT staff anticipated. On the heels of Manning taking official visits to Texas, Alabama, and Georgia, Sarkisian thought the process would drag out a little longer as the son of Cooper Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, and grandson of Archie Manning went back to New Orleans to figure out where he wanted to play college football.
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But out of the blue on June 23, 2022, Manning sent his one and, to this point, only tweet.
The ceiling of the Longhorn recruiting class skyrocketed thanks to Manning’s decision, but more importantly Sarkisian had a commitment from the No. 1 overall prospect in the On3 Consensus and at the position he calls the most important in sports.
“Signing Arch Manning was big on a lot of fronts,” Sarkisian said Wednesday in one of his first opportunities to make public comments on Manning. “Let’s just talk about the player. I think he’s extremely gifted. He’s got all the attributes needed to be a really good quarterback. He’s 6-foot-4, 225. He’s got a great arm. He’s a good athlete. He’s got really good fundamentals. There’s not a throw he can’t make. He can make the off-platform throws.”
“He comes from a really good program at Newman. He’s got the desire, the competitiveness, the work ethic needed to be great at the position.”
Sarkisian’s relationship with Arch and the rest of the Manning family began almost four years ago when he was the offensive coordinator at Alabama. His first year coordinating the Crimson Tide offense coincided with Manning’s freshman year at Isidore Newman. He continued to communicate with the Mannings after he arrived in Austin in January of 2021, as did the Louisiana-connected Terry Joseph and quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee.
According to Sarkisian, pursuing Manning was akin to a lot of other “normal” recruitments. The family simply wanted what was best for their gifted son. It took effort on Sarkisian’s part to earn the trust of the Mannings, but he was relentless in his work.
“I say it all the time, trust equals time plus consistency,” Sarkisian said. “I thought that we were very consistent in the process, we were really transparent in the process with them. In turn, they were with us.”
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Texas’ class added several key prospects to its class following Manning’s decision. Derek Williams, Johntay Cook, Jaydon Chatman, Sydir Mitchell, Liona Lefau, Billy Walton, Trevor Goosby, Connor Stroh, and Andre Cojoe publicly committed within two weeks of Manning’s announcement. That group joined another Newman Greenie in the class in Will Randle, who committed to Texas four days before Manning.
“I think there was a direct impact on the rest of the class,” Sarkisian said. “I think there was a lot of other players in this class who thought ‘man, if the No. 1 player in the country is going to Texas and believes in what they’re doing, that’s a pretty good destination for me, too.’”
More and more prospects joined the Longhorns’ class in the coming months, which currently ranks No. 4 in the On3 Consensus Team Rankings as signing day winds down. Now that Manning’s signature is in, the next step is for him to join the program in January.
Sarkisian was asked about plans for Manning during his freshman year. He brushed off questions related to that, saying he was more worried about developing his entire quarterback room.
That process, which will include Manning, begins not too long after the calendar turns to 2023.
“It’s not about his name, as I’ve said before,” Sarkisian said. “It’s about who he is innately inside. Fired up to get him here in a couple of weeks and get to work.”
