Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning entered Saturday’s game against the Ohio State Buckeyes as one of the most hyped players in recent memory. Unfortunately, he did not seem to live up to the expectations, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a bright future ahead.
Following what was a lackluster performance from the young quarterback, NFL legend Tom Brady offered his assessment of what he saw from watching Manning’s start against the Buckeyes.
While Brady himself admits it wasn’t exactly a strong showing from Manning, he’s not willing to give up on the young quarterback just yet.
High Expectations
Though Manning had never served as a full-time starting quarterback until Saturday, experts placed soaring expectations on his shoulders before the game, thanks in large part to his famous last name that he shares with his uncles Peyton and Eli, both Super Bowl champion quarterbacks.
Manning entered the season as the quarterback of the top-ranked team in the country, favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, and the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
When Manning took the field on Saturday, however, he looked much more like a young player making his first real start in a hostile environment.
Manning completed just 17 of 30 passes, with the vast majority of those completions coming behind or within just two yards of the line of scrimmage. Throughout the game, he looked confused, missed some easy passes, threw a crucial interception, and couldn’t lead the Longhorns to any points until late in the fourth quarter.
Tom Brady Weighs In
During an appearance on the Pro Football Focus YouTube channel over the weekend, Brady opened up a little bit about what he saw from Manning as well as some of the criticism the young quarterback received.
“A lot of these guys, they’re so young. And with social media and Twitter and Instagram, you can make someone look so great, and you can tear them down so quick,” Brady said. “Before, it used to be that you had to wait until the paper comes out the next day to make a real evaluation. But in the digital era, it happens in five seconds.”
While the criticism that Manning has received obviously is not fun, Brady thinks he can also use it to his advantage and grow from it.
“I think there’s a blessing and a curse in some of it. The curse is a lot of people pile on. The blessing is [that] there needs to be resilience built up in the quarterback as well,” Brady said. “So even though he didn’t have his best game today, and they lost, if he uses this to his advantage, Arch, he’s going to be tougher for it. And he’s going to have a better next game because of it.”
Brady went on to explain that he thinks quarterbacks like Manning have a lot on their plates at such a young age while they’re still developing.
“I always felt like you’ve got to deal with a lot of adversity from a quarterback standpoint — to toughen you up to be the true leader for the organization,” Brady continued. “And unfortunately, these kids now at 19 years old or 20, they’re forced to be the leaders of a college organization. And it was probably more the head coach [before], but because now there’s so many people moving every year in college, it’s really thrust upon that quarterback position to do that. And they’re young in their development.”
Brady went on to make it very clear that he still thinks Manning could have a bright future ahead of him if he bounces back, and he thinks that Manning has already shown that he’s capable of doing that.
There’s a long season to play out. Arch has years beyond this to still play in college, if he wants. But it’s going to be up to him to see how he really wants to dig within himself, and how deep he wants to dig, in order to be successful. But there’s nothing to show me that he won’t be that. He’s been that way in high school and even last year. And he’s got a lot of good people around him that know exactly what to do.”
