Colt McCoy, Uncle Eli Weigh In On The Expectations Fans Are Placing On Arch Manning

While many college football fans are hoping to see quarterback prodigy Arch Manning take over the reigns in Austin, Texas this fall, the Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian is being a bit more realistic.

With Manning being just a freshman and with another highly-touted prospect Quinn Ewers entering his second season with Texas, the job is the sophomore’s to lose.

In fact, redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy has been listed above Arch Manning on the depth chart so far this offseason as well.

Following the Texas Longhorns’ annual spring game in April, fans were disappointed that both Ewers and Murphy looked better than Manning.

This week at the Manning Passing Academy, Arch Manning’s famous uncle Eli downplayed the importance of that spring game.

“For me, I don’t remember many of my spring games,” On3.com reports Eli Manning said. “I don’t remember many of my preseason games. Spring games, you can’t look too much into it.”

Eli Manning also pointed out, “I know, for him, it’s about getting in there. Getting into practices, getting in the weight room, learning the playbook.

“He was still a senior in high school when he went through that spring game. He’s got a lot to learn. But every rep’s important, every practice is important and he’ll just continue to get better and more comfortable.”

Someone else who knows what it is like to be in Arch Manning’s shoes, specifically at the University of Texas, is veteran NFL quarterback Colt McCoy.

“When I was recruited there, Texas had won ten games in a season for like 11 straight years,” McCoy told the Green Light Podcast this week. “So the program was competing and performing at a high level. Obviously we have had a dip over the last 12 or 13 years. I think Texas is really starving to win ten games again.

“Now they get the number one recruit in the country, and the only other time they have done that I think was when they got Vince Young. I’m sure the expectations on him are crazy on campus. And that’s not necessarily fair to him.”

On the plus side for Arch Manning, during his appearance at the Manning Passing Academy, Quinn Ewers stated that he thinks the Texas Longhorns are going to turn the corner this year.

“I think our culture’s only been building the past couple years,” On3.com reports Ewers said. “I think we’ve really turned it around this year. We’re a lot more player-led than we were the past couple years. Obviously, we had great leaders as players the past few years. But I think as a whole, we kind of are leaning on each other a lot more than what we’ve [been used to] doing. I couldn’t be more excited about what’s going to happen this year, and we’re all really confident.”