Is Texas QB commit Arch Manning actually overrated?
Arch Manning is ranked as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2023 recruiting class but should he be? One recruiting analyst says no.
It seems as though long-term recruiting analyst Mike Farrell is looking to pick a fight with Texas football fans after he essentially said that prized QB commit, Arch Manning is overrated.
“If his name was Arch Smith, I think he’d probably be a high three-star quarterback,” Farrell said Tuesday on the Crain & Company podcast.
He expanded on the point further:
"“He plays a very low level of competition,” Farrell said. “He hasn’t progressed. He had a really good freshman season. I wouldn’t say regression, but he hasn’t progressed. And when he has had to step up against other competition—especially in the playoff game, where he looked awful—it just hasn’t translated.”"
It’s a bold statement for sure. Manning was part of the most widely-followed recruitments in recent memory and he got plenty of attention for having the talent of a “high-ranking” three-star prospect.
Of course, with every recruit, there is some sort of projection. And it’s not hard to imagine coaches overrating Arch Manning a little due to the success of other quarterbacks in his family such as Archie Manning (grandfather) and his uncles Peyton and Eli.
Peyton and Eli were both similar when they were recruited and highly touted. Both of them worked out and went No. 1 overall in the NFL draft.
While Arch Manning could be overrated, but just slightly
I can buy part of what Farrell is saying because while Arch Manning is a talented quarterback, five-stars such as Malachi Nelson and Dante Moore are also uber-elite and some even believe Moore has the best arm in the entire class.
However, I tend to trust guys like Nick Saban, Steven Sarkisian, and Kirby Smart over recruiting analysts. Not that head coaches aren’t wrong. But if Arch’s last name was different, would he still be the consensus No. 1 overall recruit?
Next. Ranking College Football's top 25 fanbases. dark
That I don’t know. We’ll just have to see how it plays out but I know that any college football team in America would love to have Arch Manning as their 2023 QB pledge, so that probably tells you something, even if the last name alone makes coaches reassured he won’t be a bust.