The Quinn Ewers-Arch Manning debate has been settled down, with the eminent signal caller leaving for the pros. Texas has left fans divided over the starting gig position for the last few months. Arch Manning, who waited for his turn to show up in the frontline and lead the Longhorns, all of a sudden got his wish granted last season. Thanks to Ewers’ torn oblique clampdown. During a couple of games against Louisiana Monroe and Mississippi State, Manning took the CFB world by storm with his scintillating performance as the stand-in QB1. Since then, the narrative started to shift among the Texas fan base. Fans started to vouch for Manning to replace Quinn for good. Finally, he is gearing up for that, but are we winning? An eye-opening Quinn Ewers trait might force you to give it a second thought.
Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders largely dominated the QB discourse in 2024. Two QBs—non-SEC, non-B1G- got their teams on their backs and transformed each of their seasons. As a result, QBs like Quinn Ewers and Jalen Milroe didn’t get as much attention from the broadcasters. In Ewers’ case, the blame goes to the time he missed due to injuries. Moreover, he was not up to the mark in some games. Especially the one against Georgia, where he had three turnovers. But despite all that slump, the occasional stride he made during the season is not to be spurned. One of his biggest criticisms, and also the biggest flash, was his tendency to make short, quick passes.
While some viewed it as a weakness, some experts deemed it as pure art and wondered if the new poster boy, Arch Manning, could ever match. During the March 20th episode of Inside Texas Football, insider Homer divulged that doubt and said, ”Quinn was so damn good at flinging those check-downs out in the flat with timing and accuracy. Curious if y’all feel like Manning will have the same touch, not on those flat routes. Quinn’s probably one of the best I’ve ever seen, and this sounds like a diss, but he’s one of the best check-down throwers I’ve seen, just like supernatural there. His arm angle, I mean, that some of his nicest throws were to running backs.”
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Ewers was instrumental in shaping up the Longhorns’ season last year, leading them to an unprecedented 13-3. The San Antonio native went from the highest-rated recruit in history with a gunslinger’s arm and never-give-up mentality to a check-down master. His average depth of target stands at 7.1 yards downfield. Texas insider Boyed added that Manning had a couple of superb check-downs, too, last year, but when it comes to a comparison, it might not weigh the same.
“Quinn was very good at this, and Arch is pretty good as well at throwing him open into space so that he can kind of get up the field and continue the momentum. Yeah, so he’ll be fine. He won’t be maybe not quite as good as Quinn, but there’s so much you can take a pretty big step back from Quinn and still be able to throw those and be effective, right?’‘ Ian Boyd kept things a little cheery for the new Texas QB. But is he worth the hype he gets? Well, that’s something out for a constructive debate.
Arch Manning’s media hype might be a trap for his future at Austin
Ready or not, it seems that the third-generation Manning is destined to take the spotlight as college football’s net face. Being a hardcore Texas fan since childhood, Manning didn’t mind being passed over not just once but twice for Ewers. He stayed in the course and added to his resume before taking up the big role. Now, on August 30th, he will go head-on against the championship-winning team to get all the hype, a meaning, or a reality check. Can he do it? No, the question is wrong. It should be, can he do it as it is expected from a hysteric fanbase?
Father Cooper Manning, with deep college football knowledge, is skeptical. He thinks all the early media attention might work against him if he fails to impress. Consequently, they will use the media narrative to demean him even more. But the question is why will he fail in the first place?
Well, to some extent, it’s inevitable. The extreme pressure under the center will ramp up dramatically for a program with a solid national championship aspiration, as Cooper Manning believes. At the same time, Arch has talent. He is poised to face some early bumps in the road. And we will be hooked to see what happens next in the highly sold-out Arch Manning saga in Texas.
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