Arch Manning is Bringing a New Edge to Texas This Season

There has always been a ubiqitous tension on the Forty Acres when it comes to the football program. Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian operates with a very obvious chip on his shoulder from it with all of the lashing out he does, but Arch Manning is no longer letting the pressure of being Texas' QB1 hold him back.

As Sarkisian revealed, Manning started playing with a "screw it" attitude midway through the 2025 season after taking two losses early to Ohio State and Florida and struggling with his game even against lesser opponents like UTEP.

“He was working so hard. He wanted to do everything so right that the second half of the season he just said, ‘Screw it. I’m gonna go play,'" Sarkisian told Colin Cowherd on "The Herd" Tuesday.

Manning has had pressure to perform since the moment he was born. Arch's last name has always put a target on him. Detractors got exactly what they wanted last fall when Manning struggled to maintain the team standard Quinn Ewers had set the two seasons prior.

It sounds like Manning is accepting the fact that there's nothing he can do but ball out. He chose Austin because he didn't want even more pressure of not being able to leave his house without being recognized. Now, he has more pressure to perform with an improved supporting cast, but also a better attitude about dealing with it.

Arch Manning's Texas Career Will Prepare Him Well For the NFL

Sarkisian empowering Manning to play this way is massive for the quarterback's next act in the pros. Texas is one of the few programs that could simulate what life in the NFL is like. The market is bigger than most NFL markets, while the fanbase and support is comparable. Even the money at the top of college football is starting to resemble the League with NIL arguably getting out of hand.

Manning will go to the NFL either next year or in 2028 better prepared for the job than almost anyone before him, especially if he stays with the Longhorns for the 2027 season. The fact that he's already figured out to not let the pressure get to him and say "screw it" instead bodes well for whichever front office drafts him.

Of course, it bodes well for Texas this season, too. Before putting the carriage before the horse, Manning has a mission to make good on the historic investment the Longhorns have put into him since he arrived in 2023 with, at minimum, a CFP appearance.

Whatever happens in the future, Manning isn't stressing about it now.

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