Arch Manning Claims He Never Considered Transferring

With the prevalence of the transfer portal in the modern era of college football, it's not exactly common to see a five-star quarterback stick with a team for two seasons before having the chance to earn a starting spot, especially such a high-profile player as Arch Manning. But that's exactly what he did, and it sounds like he never even considered leaving.

Arch, the nephew of Hall of Fame quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, has been one of the most high-profile names in college football since he signed with the Texas Longhorns before the 2023 season.

Given his family lineage and the fact that he was the highest-rated quarterback in the 2023 freshman recruiting class, Manning surely could have gone elsewhere and started his first season. Instead, he chose to enroll with Texas, where he knew he would almost certainly sit behind veteran starter Quinn Ewers for at least one season.

When Ewers chose to return to Texas for one more season in 2024, there was a lot of speculation that Manning could choose to transfer to another program where he could start immediately rather than spend another year behind Ewers on the depth chart.

Ultimately, Manning made the decision to stay and serve as Ewers' backup for one more season. While that choice might have been surprising to some, he recently broke his silence on the decision as claimed that he never even considered the possibility of leaving Texas.

"[Transferring] never really crossed my mind," Manning said this week, according to Fox Sports. "I knew Texas was the place I wanted to be. It was the city I wanted to be in, a great education. I had friends there. I was still developing and growing as a football player and a person. So I never really wanted to leave. If there was somewhere else I wanted to be, I would have gone."

Manning waited patiently for his time to shine, and he'll get his chance this year. With Ewers gone to the NFL, Manning is the clear-cut starter for Texas.

He'll have his work cut out for him, though, as his first game as a starter will be against the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes, who knocked Texas out of the College Football Playoff back in January – a game Manning left early with a head injury after just one carry.

We'll have to see how he fares after such a long wait.