Marshall Manning Won't Be at Baylor–Rabun Gap. Five Reasons We're Watching Anyway

Marshall Manning will not play Friday night when Baylor School travels to Georgia to face Rabun Gap-Nacoochee, and reportedly won't even make the trip. We know. This is hard. But as a community, we're going to get through it.

Manning — the freshman quarterback and son of Peyton Manning — is expected to miss a few weeks with a foot injury, temporarily interrupting one of the more closely monitored freshman seasons in the history of a sport where the participants still get dropped off at school.

So the question before us is simple, and profound: what are we supposed to do now? Watch the other extremely talented football players?

Apparently, yes.

Here are five reasons Baylor–Rabun Gap still deserves your attention Friday night, even as some of us quietly wonder what Marshall is doing and, more pressingly, do you think he misses us as much as we miss him.

1. No, Marshall Manning Really Isn't Coming

Let's move through this stage together. Manning has been sidelined since making his high school debut against Brentwood Academy on Aug. 20, and Baylor coach Erik Kimrey has said he's expected to miss a few weeks. That means no surprise appearance Friday, no two-snap cameo, no eight-yard completion sending the internet into a spiral about whether we've just witnessed the arrival of quarterback Jesus.

Instead, presumably, Marshall will be home. And here we must confront a genuine mystery: what does a Manning do on a Friday night when he isn't playing football? Does he watch football? Surely he studies film? Sit quietly in a dimly lit room diagramming Cover 2, because that is what we have collectively decided Mannings do for fun?

We don't know. We may never know. Perhaps, somewhere, he is wondering what we're doing. Marshall, if you're reading this: we're working. But thank you for asking.

2. Keegan Croucher Gets the Stage to Himself

Here is the faintly absurd part of the whole Manning phenomenon: Baylor already has a very good quarterback, and his name is Keegan Croucher. Croucher is a four-star senior committed to Ole Miss, which means Manning was never a freshman prodigy summoned to rescue the offense. He's a backup, learning behind one of the better arms in the region. Friday night Croucher will own the full stage against a talented Rabun Gap defense, with nobody glancing at the sideline to see whether No. 16 is about to trot on.

Which is to say, Friday night will have a normal, healthy, correct amount of attention for a four-star SEC quarterback commit. We wish him a game of complete anonymity.

He has earned it.

3. David Gabriel Georges Deserves Your Attention, Too

Baylor's offense doesn't lack weapons. Running back David Gabriel Georges has already shown why he's one of the players worth knowing on this roster, giving the Red Raiders another real threat alongside Croucher.

And this is, if we're honest, a useful reminder for all of us: there are other players playing football this Friday. We checked. There are, in fact, quite a lot of them. Believe it or not, many of them are good.

None of them are named Manning, and that has to be okay.

4. This Is a Legitimate Interstate Measuring Stick

Now to the portion of the program where we behave like adults. Baylor is the defending Tennessee Division II-AAA state champion and one of the nation's more nationally regarded programs. Rabun Gap has built itself into one of Georgia's most intriguing outfits, and Friday gives the Red Raiders another chance to test themselves outside Tennessee.

For Georgia fans, that's the actual reason to tune in: games like this reveal how programs stack up beyond state lines, which matters more with every week both teams survive. Neither side, it should be noted, cares even slightly that the reason most of the country circled this game is currently resting his foot at home.

Rude. But fair.

5. Fine. When Do We Get Marshall Back?

There it is. We tried. We made it four entire reasons.

Technically three.

Manning's timetable has been described as a few weeks, which means every Baylor game now arrives with a quiet second question stapled to it, “Is this the one where Marshall comes back?” Eventually, one of them will be. Until then, Friday belongs to Croucher, Georges, Rabun Gap and a genuinely compelling matchup that deserves your attention..
So get healthy, Marshall. Enjoy the night off. Don't spend a single second worrying about us. And if you should happen to find yourself in dark in between practing your “Omahas” wondering, whether we're still thinking about you — unfortunately, the answer is yes.

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