What it means to have LSU, Florida back in contention for Arch Manning

Arch Manning is the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2023 class and the five-star QB expanded his list of contenders to include LSU and Florida on Wednesday. 

Right now, every college football team is hoping to be a finalist for five-star quarterback Arch Manning but recently, it was reported that he was down to four schools.

However, that didn’t come from Arch Manning and we even said a few weeks ago that LSU was a school to watch in this recruitment. Now, it looks as though those opinions were proven correct and despite some talk from ESPN on Tuesday that Arch was down to two schools, Cooper Manning told 247 sports that’s not the case.

Arch Manning’s father told 247 sports that Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss, Georgia, are all in the mix as well as LSU and Florida. Here’s what Steve Wiltfong of247 sports wrote about the latest developments in his recruitment.

"“Clemson is the only program Manning has visited that is no longer under consideration. When college coaches were on the road in January recruiting, Alabama’s Nick Saban, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Florida’s Billy Napier, LSU’s Brian Kelly, and Ole Miss’s Lane Kiffin all came by the school to chat with New Orleans (La.) Isidore Newman head coach Nelson Stewart about Manning and his teammates. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian used his allotted trip during the season for a game.”"

Why LSU, Florida shouldn’t be discounted

All the changes at head coach have certainly made an impact. And you can never count out Nick Saban and Alabama. If Manning goes there, he’s just about guaranteed to be a first-round pick and win a national championship, but that’s true of him going to Georgia too.

There is more risk in him going to Texas or Ole Miss but both programs have bright offensive minds. Florida has Billy Napier, who has ties to Saban and was highly successful in the state of Louisiana before moving on to coach Florida.

And Brian Kelly is building what looks to be a contender in the SEC. He’s just missing the quarterback and while Walker Howard is nice, he’s not Arch Manning.

I still feel like Texas is in the driver’s seat especially if David Cutcliffe is on staff there. Yet, that hasn’t been made official. But with all of his ties to the Manning family, that could be the chess move that makes the difference in the end.

That’s assuming of course that Texas bounces back this season. I don’t see Arch Manning going to a program that’s still rebuilding.

He’s going to want to win so the results on the field will be important for LSU, Florida, and Texas, as well as Ole Miss as they all try to prove they can contend with Alabama and Georgia long term.