National championship-winning coach questions all the Arch Manning hype

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Social media and podcasts give everyone a platform to express their opinion about anything, and one legendary former SEC football coach decided now was the time to go on the record about Arch Manning.

Steve Spurrier, 80, won 228 games as a collegiate head coach in 26 seasons with Duke, Florida and South Carolina, winning the 1996 national title with the Gators. There’s no question that Spurrier knows football, with his coaching career and 10-year playing career in the NFL, and when he has something to say, he says it. He did just that on the Dooley Noted podcast with sportswriter Pat Dooley,

questioning the Manning hype train that’s running at top speed down the tracks.

“If he was this good, how come they let Quinn Ewers play all the time last year?” Spurrier asked Dooley rhetorically. “And (Ewers) was a seventh-round pick. You have to ask Coach (Steve Sarkisian) Sark, how come you play that one instead of this one?”

Manning got most of his time in 2024 due to Ewers’ oblique injury in the middle of the season, but Sarkisian inserted Manning near the end of the first half of the 30-15 loss to Georgia because Ewers was struggling. Ewers came back in the game and played all of the second half.

When Dooley prompted Spurrier about substituting quarterbacks during his coaching career, Spurrier responded, “if one guy is struggling, you give the other guy a chance.”

In the end, it’s just one man’s opinion from outside the program. But as respected as Spurrier is, his words carry some weight around the SEC and the greater college football landscape. He’s certainly not alone in his opinion — former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray had similar thoughts on the issue.

Murray pointed to Manning simply not having enough game experience to be considered one of the best quarterbacks. It wasn’t a knock on Manning’s talent, but as we’re all aware, talent and production don’t always go hand-in-hand.

The good news is fans won’t have to wait long to see Manning face his first big test. He’ll lead the Longhorns into The Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio, to take on the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes on Aug. 30 to open the season.