Did Texas QB Arch Manning EA Sports Opt Out Create Unnecessary Distraction?

The Texas Longhorns backup quarterback is the talk of the college football world following his decision to not be in the upcoming college football video game.

As most college football fans and video game fans were rejoicing about the return of the beloved college football video game, it seemed like a certainty that every play would be in the game.

Being that players are now able to profit off of their NIL, it seemed simple. You sign up to be in the game, you therefore get paid for being in the game and everyone's happy. 

Over 10,000 players have been confirmed to be in the game, but on Monday evening we learned that one big name will not be. Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning reportedly isn't going to be in the game until he takes over as the starter, which is presumed to be 2025.

Texas quarterback Arch Manning 

Jay Janner/American-Statesman-USA TODAY NETWORK

While this can be viewed as a sort of noble act or being extremely focused on football, it now just created a storyline that people around college football will be discussing relentlessly when it comes to Texas' QB2. Something that On3's JD PicKell touched on recently, saying that Manning and his camp may have missed the mark with this decision.

"I love that he's all about ball," said PicKell. "No 7-on-7, no all-star games. Again selfishly, would have loved to see him there, would have loved to watch Arch Manning sling the yard around a little bit. He's like 'I'm sticking to ball, I'm not doing anything besides ball.' That's him, I also believe that's the Manning camp.

"I appreciate it. When you look at this whole situation though if Arch Manning opts into the game, I'm not doing a segment on the show about it. Why? Because it's not news. Because pretty much everyone and their momma that has a chance to opt into college football 25 is opting into college football 25. And so if the hope was to make it not a story, it's a bigger story by opting out because everybody's opting in. So by him opting out, he's sort of this outlier to my understanding..."

The decision will also be something that head coach Steve Sarkisian, his family, and maybe even Quinn Ewers will all be asked about now. While we don't know the true goal behind the move, we do know that everyone will now want Manning's take on it, which we won't get until bowl week assuming he doesn't have media availability throughout the year.

'Not In The Game': Arch Manning To Opt Out Of EA Sports CFB Video Game?

Read More

'Not In The Game': Arch Manning To Opt Out Of EA Sports CFB Video Game?

Read More

Until Manning plays a meaningful snap, the focus on him will be his absence from the video game which takes away focus from football. It's rare to say video games aren't a distraction, but in this case, there's a good chance being a part of the game would have been the less noisy route.