Texas hooked its biggest recruit of the Steve Sarkisian era when quarterback Arch Manning, the No. 2 overall prospect in the ESPN 300, signed with the Longhorns on Wednesday.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound star from Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans is the nephew of Eli and Peyton Manning. His father, Cooper Manning, played wide receiver at Ole Miss.
At Newman, Arch Manning was a four-year starter, throwing for 8,599 yards and 115 touchdowns with 20 interceptions while rushing for 1,155 yards and 25 TDs. He broke broke Eli’s school record for passing yards (7,268) and Peyton’s for TDs (93).
He committed to Texas in June over Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Clemson and Virginia.
The Longhorns have had three different quarterbacks — Casey Thompson, Quinn Ewers and Hudson Card — start games in the past two seasons.
Ewers, the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2021 ESPN 300 before signing with Ohio State and transferring to Texas last season, held down the job for most of 2022 (he missed three games with a shoulder injury). He threw for 1,808 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions in nine starts and struggled at times — including a 41-34 loss to Oklahoma State in which he threw three interceptions — and completed just 48.1% of his passes against AP Top 25 teams.
Manning will get an opportunity to compete for the job. Sarkisian said earlier this season that he likes to “wipe the slate clean” every year in a quarterback competition.