Arch Manning entered his college football career with significant hype before he started a game for the Texas Longhorns. That hype became supercharged after a game against UTSA. On a 2nd and 2 in the second quarter of that game, Manning took a designed run past six UTSA defenders en route to a 67-yard touchdown run.
With two uncles and a grandfather that played the position before him, an ‘athletic’ or ‘fast’ Manning was not something people expected to see. However, 2025 has not been the elite coronation many fans expected it would be for Manning.
Manning began the 2025 campaign with four games of less than 200 yards passing, but as of late has put together three games of over 300 yards. Including his 328 yards and 3 touchdowns passing in their recent win over No. 9 Vanderbilt last week.
While Manning’s trajectory seems to be trending in the right direction, Fox Sports college football analyst and former college quarterback Joel Klatt believes Manning has a long way to go before making the jump to the NFL.
"Arch was dreadful early in the year, and he's gotten better in the last couple of weeks," Klatt said in a Wednesday appearance on FOX Sports Radio's "The Herd."
According to Sports Illustrated, Klatt has called Manning a “decent to average college football quarterback. Manning currently ranks 19th in passing yards and 24th in passing touchdowns. The up and down nature of Mannings 2025 starts has led the Fox Sports analyst to believe Manning needs at least another year in college before he becomes a top NFL prospect.
"He's going to need at least 20 more starts to be even remotely ready for the National Football League," Klatt said.
After backup roles in 2023 and 2024, the prevailing idea was that 2025 would be Manning’s coming out party and a possible run at the Heisman Trophy. Manning is in his third year in college football, but Klatt believes the starts, not total duration of time is what matters most.
"You can't replicate the position anywhere other than on the field live in games," Klatt said. "And so, as he's starting to develop, as he's starting to start more games, you're starting to see him get a little bit better."
Manning has had 11 starts in his college career. Klatt referenced the magic number being 30 starts. Klatt argued that the average Super Bowl winning NFL quarterback has over 30 college starts. That includes Manning’s uncles Peyton and Eli who both started more than 39 starts in their careers.
Klatt's claim of 30+ starts would put Manning's jump to the NFL after the 2027 college football season. In addition to Klatt’s claims, Archie, Peyton and Eli have all made public comments about Arch staying in school until there is nothing more, he can learn from the college game.
Arch Manning and the Longhorns travel to Athens Georgia to take on the No. 5 ranked Georgia Bulldogs. The game will kick off at 7:30pm ET and broadcast on ABC.
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