Arch Manning has yet to play a single down at Texas but he is already catching strays. The first grandson of football was the butt of the joke at College GameDay in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.
However, the attempted troll was objectively inaccurate.
Manning, the No. 1 overall prospect in the college football recruiting Class of 2023, committed to the Longhorns last fall and arrived on campus in January. Not long thereafter, he lost his student I.D. card.
Not just once, but twice! Classic freshman mistake from Archibald.
Although Manning arrived in Austin with a lot of hype, he is still a year or two away from having the opportunity to takeover the starting job. Quinn Ewers is the incumbent and four-star backup Maalik Murphy is pretty legit. Texas spent a lot of NIL money to keep the latter around as multiple programs offered him the opportunity to transfer during the offseason.
Thus, Manning is expected to redshirt. He was actually supposed to play last weekend, but the new clock rules kept him from getting in the game.
The odds of Manning seeing time against the Crimson Tide on Saturday are slim. It mean a catastrophe for the visiting Longhorns if they were forced to thrust the five-star freshman into action.
Arch Manning is still catching strays.
That didn’t stop Alabama fans from taking a shot at the highly-touted quarterback. One fan in attendance at College GameDay went with the low-hanging fruit and joked about his I.D.
She also said that Manning lost his chance at the national championship.
Although it’s not that serious, because it’s a joke, she’s wrong. Texas could lose to Alabama and still make the College Football Playoff. Manning will likely have four years of eligibility remaining after this season to reach a national championship.
He may have lost his student I.D. but he has not lost his chance at a national title— yet!