Texas was steamrolled by its opponents in the first half of the 2025 season. More particularly, it was star QB Arch Manning who was on the receiving end of such treatment. Yet, Steve Sarkisian chose to stand by his signal-caller, and many also scrutinized the head coach for this stance. Now, with Manning having turned some of those skeptics into believers after a strong second half last year, Sark has an idea on wat might have flipped the switch for him.
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Touted to be the National Champions entering the 2025 season, Texas was 3-2 after a humiliating loss to Florida. By that time, Manning had thrown seven interceptions and had completion rates of below 60% in three of those games – one of them against UTEP. This was not the QB who was being regarded as the potential No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft. Three days after the Florida loss, The Athletic summed up what everyone was thinking: Arch Manning was “college football’s first flop.” But Steve Sarkisian thought that this article was a “blessing in disguise” for the QB, according to On3.
“I think he needed that adversity at the start of last season,” Sarkisian said. “He’s lived a great life, and that’s a credit to (parents) Cooper and Ellen and all the Mannings. He had a lot of things that came to him, a lot of opportunities… But in a lot of ways, Arch needed to get on the other side of that, which I think last season provided him.
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NCAA, College League, USA Football: Texas at Florida Oct 4, 2025 Gainesville, Florida, USA Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning 16 throws the ball before a game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Gainesville Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Florida USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMattxPendletonx 20251004_cec_ee7_013
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“Ninety-nine percent of kids would have melted last year if they had to endure what he endured, and all Arch did was get stronger.”
Oklahoma was next up on the schedule. And the QB who was scraping by when it came to accuracy, nailed 77.8% of his passes, against a defense that was one of the best in the SEC. It was Arch Manning who handed Oklahoma its first loss of the season. Manning stumbled against Kentucky, but it was only a blip. Since then. Manning played on a different level. He made a valiant effort against Mississippi State, throwing for a season-high 346 yards and three scores, before he was out with a concussion.
The narrative was shifting around Arch Manning now. He worked to return in the next game against Vanderbilt, getting less than a week to prepare coming out of concussion protocol. The QB who looked like the biggest bust of the season was slowly putting Texas in playoff contention, recording a 4-win streak. By the end of the season, the Longhorns had defeated the three Top-10 ranked teams in the AP Poll. 20 of Texas’ touchdowns came from Manning in just the last eight games. To further gauge how much he had developed, his 2025 TD total is at 26.
“I knew good times were coming,” Manning told On3. “I just had to be patient.”
Once again, Arch Manning enters the 2026 season with a lot of promise. But this time, he’s actually put something on the board for fans to believe in him. And contrary to what many still think of him, he’s not paid enough for his contributions.
Arch Manning is the “most underpaid” QB
The Texas QB comes from football’s first family. The Manning name alone is a big reason why there was so much hype around Arch. He comes from money, which is one aspect of him that haters like to target. And his sitting atop the NIL valuation rankings last year (and this year), valued at $5.4 million, added more fuel to the fire. But according to Steve Sarkisian, Manning barely makes any money from Texas’s revenue.
On3’s Chris Low recalled that Steve Sarkisian told him the QB was “probably the most underpaid quarterback in college football, from what [Texas was] paying.” The insider further proceeded to say that when Manning enrolled at Texas, his father, Cooper Manning, said that they were “not taking a dime.”
Today, not many players would agree with this philosophy. The transfer portal was gripped with pure chaos this year, mostly because of the steep prices programs were offering their targets. Ole Miss linebacker Luke Ferrelli left Clemson after just a week of transferring there for a reported $1 million paycheck. But Arch Manning chose to take a different path: he took a reduced cut from Texas’ revenue that year, to help the team grow.
It’s not like he was ever in bad shape financially. Manning signed NIL deals with brands like Red Bull, Panini America, Google Gemini, and even stars in the EA College Football 25 game. The one with Gemini was inked this year, which shows that his turbulent 2025 is not so much of a concern for these business giants.
And it isn’t so for Texas fans as well. Arch Manning has the chance to script the comeback of the decade if he plays at his level in 2026. Maybe then, there will be some headlines calling him a ‘hero.’
Written by
Edited by
Afreen Kabir