No. 1 Transfer Portal Class Puts Clear Pressure on $5.4 Million College Football QB

A quarterback at a Power Four college football program is under pressure following his team's acquisition of the No. 1 class in the 2026 NCAA transfer portal cycle.

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) runs with the ball against the Michigan Wolverines | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

A little more than six months lie between the middle of February and the beginning of the 2026 college football season.

Now that the college football world is fully immersed in the 2026 offseason, it is beginning to determine which teams to pay attention to come August. One team that was prominently featured in national championship contender discussions in 2025 was Texas, and the Longhorns are resurfacing in those conversations in 2026.

Texas enters its second season with Arch Manning as its starting quarterback. The Longhorns featured the former five-star prospect in short-yardage packages during their run in the 2024-2025 College Football Playoff, and Manning started a pair of games on the front half of the season after Quinn Ewers went down with an injury against UTSA.

Manning walked into the 2025 season with the weight of the world on his shoulders. The media incessantly hyped him up as a Heisman Trophy contender bound to lead the Longhorns to their first national championship victory in two decades.

A 3-2 start quickly shut down those aspirations, but the Longhorns won seven of their final eight games to finish the season at 10-3 overall.

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) passes the ball during the fourth quarter against the Mississippi State Bulldogs | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

The final numbers for Manning in 2025 were 3,163 passing yards, 26 touchdown passes and seven interceptions to go along with 399 rush yards and 10 more touchdowns. The ride for Manning through 2025 was not the smoothest, but he emerges from the end of the season as one of the potential stars to watch in 2026.

Not only is Manning coming off a late-season surge in 2025, but Texas acquired several weapons out of the NCAA transfer portal to bolster its offense in 2026.

Manning proved his worth as a potential star late in 2025, but the acquisitions create even more pressure for Texas to break through next season. The pressure is something former Alabama quarterback and ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy called attention to on his show "Always College Football."

“The interesting thing when looking at Texas in 2026 is not talent. We know Texas has talent; they’ve been talented for as long as I can remember. The real question, however, is does Texas become a quarterback-defined football team?" McElroy said.

"There’s a big difference between a team that wins because it has a better roster, and a team that wins because its quarterback gives them that repeatable identity in the biggest moments of the game."

The Longhorns purged virtually all of their running back production from 2025 to bring four-star transfers Hollywood Smothers (NC State) and Raleek Brown (Arizona State). Additionally, Texas acquired five-star wide receiver Cam Coleman (Auburn) while shedding some of its production at the position from 2025.

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) runs with the ball against the Oklahoma Sooners | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations