5 Star College Football QBs Who Turned Down the Manning Passing Academy

A handful of the biggest names in college football opted to not to partake in the Manning Passing Academy.

Left to right: Peyton Manning, Archie Manning and Eli Manning pose at the 24th Annual Manning Passing Academy on June 28, 2019. | Nick Suss/Clarion Ledger

Widely regarded as one of the most prestigious camps in football, the Manning Passing Academy is set to take place June 25-28 at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, Louisiana.

Headlined by former New Orleans Saints legend Archie Manning and his two future Hall of Fame sons, Peyton and Eli Manning, the camp gives youngsters who play offensive skill positions a chance to learn from some of the brightest minds the sport has seen.

"As such, their summer vacations always revolve around the annual Manning Passing Academy…a family-owned and managed football camp that embraces the basic fundamentals of football while catering to the offensive skill positions of RB, TE, WR ... and of course QB," writes the MPA on its site.

While this is more so for the kids who are in 8-12th grade, it does also give the college football world a glimpse at some of the best quarterbacks in the country, as the stars serve as the counselors.

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While it's an extensive list of who will be in attendance, headlined by Texas quarterback Arch Manning and Ohio State's Julian Sayin, there were five notable signal callers who were invited, but turned down the opportunity.

Two Big Ten quarterbacks turn it down

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore walks off the field during the Oregon Ducks annual spring game. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oregon's Dante Moore is one of the hottest names in college football, as many felt he could have been a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Instead, the former five-star recruit opted to return to Eugene, and is clearly focused on the upcoming season ahead.

Joining him as a fellow Big Ten quarterback who turned down the MPA is Indiana's Josh Hoover. However, this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, as head coach Curt Cignetti didn't allow Fernando Mendoza to attend last year's camp either. With the Hoosiers looking to defend their title and replace a ton of production last year, the more reps that can be attained with the squad intact, the better.

Two SEC quarterbacks passed

While the SEC is well represented, with at least five signal callers confirmed to attend, two of the biggest names in the conference will not be there. Both South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers and LSU's Sam Leavitt turned down invites. There hasn't been an official reason announced by Sellers, but Leavitt is still working his way back from a season-ending injury that he suffered last year, as reported by Nola.com's Jeff Duncan.

"Leavitt, who attended the MPA last year, was only recently cleared to participate in summer workouts and has been restricted from full-scale, on-field passing work due to his recovery from Lisfranc surgery," Duncan wrote.

The other notable quarterback who passed on the camp was Miami's Darian Mensah.

While it's not the end of the world by any means, it does mean these five quarterbacks will miss out on learning from the most prestigious quarterback family the sport has seen. However, health and possible scheduling conflicts are at play here, which is a part of life for the now multimillionaire college football quarterbacks.