The best investment the Texas Longhorns made for Arch Manning this offseason was getting Cam Coleman in one piece to Austin. The Longhorns went on a bidding war with neighboring foes like Tech and the Aggies to seal the deal with $3 million NIL, apparently. And for what it’s worth, Texas coaches say they’re learning something new about Coleman every single day. However, his latest discovery had the Hook ’em nation in shock.

On March 4, Anwar Richards of Orange Blood (The Longhorns Insiders) spilled the tea about Cam Coleman. The former Auburn Tigers wideout has been impressing everybody in the winter workouts:

“This week, I was told Coleman has been ‘killing it’ in winter workouts. One attribute that continues to stand out is his speed.” Richards doubled down about his speed by quoting an anonymous source: “We knew he had some speed, but the film doesn’t do him justice. This guy can absolutely fly. It’s ridiculous how fast he is. He adds a speed dimension to the receivers room that we didn’t have last year.”

Bet nobody’s grinning more now than Arch Manning. Truth be told, this shouldn’t come as a surprise at all. The transfer portal’s No. 1 receiver has always been a speedster. Despite having a ‘freak-athletic’ build, second only to Jeremiah Smith, he clocked an electronically timed 4.48 40-yard dash at the Under Armour Atlanta regional camp in February 2023. Another report says the SEC’s best wideout has hit sub-4.42 marks in other settings.

If you know about this sport, 8 out of 10 times, an electronically timed laser clock cannot be accurate. Look no further than Carnell Tate’s NFL Combine. He was called out for running 4.54 at the Combine. That’s the 27th-best run out of 34 participants among wideouts. Only to confirm later that the machine clocked him inaccurately.

Some scouts from the NFL spotted him running 4.45 or 4.47s. Judging based on that conclusion, it’s safe to say Coleman can run 4.38 or even 4.36s. That’s pretty fast by every scout’s standard. For context: even the creators of the College Football 25 video game have his speed at 93 and a 95 acceleration rating right out of the gate.

Plus, when your signal-callers are Jackson Arnold and Payton Thorne, it’s borderline impossible to showcase your vertical speed. Both QBs were certified game managers with little to no consistency. Despite that, he put up 598 yards and 8 touchdowns as a true freshman. What’s diabolical is that, in his last three games of his freshman year, he registered around 313 yards and 3 touchdowns. That’s around 52% of his season production.

Even this past season, having to play with 3 QBs, including Jackson Arnold, he had 56 catches for 708 yards and 5 touchdowns.

And on top of that, inadequate QB play, the offensive system at Auburn didn’t do him many favors. Since their running game was pretty much non-existent, the SEC defenses knew Coleman was the only real threat and would just park a safety 20 yards deep to babysit him. Because the quarterback couldn’t zip the ball into tight windows or hit him in stride, Coleman was stuck running a limited route tree.

The good news is that’s not going to be the case in Austin.

How Arch Manning and the Longhorns are going to run with Coleman

Last year, the Texas offense was good. But they sometimes felt a little ‘safe’ in the passing game, especially on the speed part. Last year’s squad, unlike the current 2024 stacked wideout corps, lacked reliable speed with hands, with the exception of Ryan Wingo.

Coleman changes the math entirely because he commands a double-team almost every play. This is going to create big lanes for guys like former WR1 Ryan Wingo and the running game.

Basically, if a safety cheats up to stop the run, Arch is just going to launch a moon shot to Coleman. Mind you, Coleman has the breakaway speed to turn a simple catch into a 75-yard house call. As the team gears up for spring ball, the Manning-to-Coleman connection is officially the hottest ticket in Austin. The coaching staff is raving about how Coleman has picked up the playbook in record time.

If these two keep this chemistry going through the summer like they are doing right now, there is no reason the Longhorns shouldn’t make the SEC Championship.