Arch Manning: ‘Nowhere else I wanted to be besides Texas’

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Coming back to the Manning Passing Academy as a starting quarterback for Texas is certainly a full circle moment for Arch Manning.

Before Manning starts this fall for the Longhorns, he’s a counselor with his family this weekend at the Manning Passing Academy.

“Any time you can get guys that have been around football as much as my family to support me and be in my corner, it’s a true blessing,” said Manning. “I’m just glad I get to have them.”

After sitting behind Quinn Ewers for his first two years, Manning is the starter at Texas for the upcoming season. In the current college football world, many players seek to transfer when they don’t start right away.

Not Arch. That wasn’t his focus.

“There was really nowhere else I wanted to be besides Texas,” said Manning Friday in Thibodaux, Louisiana at the passing academy. “I knew it was where I wanted to play all along and I’m glad I got the opportunity this year.”

“I think he wanted to go to Texas from the ‘get-go,'” said Arch’s father Cooper Manning. “You want to go there. You want to work hard. You want to earn your spot. And if it means waiting a little bit, that’s part of life.”

Arch, who was a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy with uncle’s Eli and Peyton, was asked plenty about what he’s learned in his first two years in Austin. Arch is appreciative of everything he retained from previous starter Quinn Ewers.

“[I] picked up a lot from Quinn’s game and just how he handled everything. Whether it was on the football side, the mental piece [or] the media. And just take bits and pieces and try to add it to my game,” Manning said.