The Texas Longhorns have one of the most exciting quarterbacks in college football with Arch Manning leading the way. After spending his first two seasons as a backup quarterback with the program and seeing very limited time on the field during games,
Manning commented on that decision as he could have entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, but ultimately decided to stay with coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns. Let’s take a look at why he decided to stay with the program.
Arch Manning Discusses Staying at Texas
During his availability at the 2025 SEC Media Days, Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning explained why he never transferred out of the program after being the backup quarterback for his first two seasons of college football.
“I think the main thing was I wanted to be at the University of Texas. There’s nowhere else I wanted to be, whether it was the school itself, Austi, my friends, the football program. So as long as I was continuing to get better at football and like where I was at, it was a no-brainer for me to stay.”
Arch Manning looked solid in limited action as the backup quarterback last season as he completed 61 of 90 (67.8%) of his passes for 939 yards with nine passing touchdowns to two interceptions while also adding 25 rushing attempts for 108 yards (4.3 yards per carry) with four rushing touchdowns.
This season will be the first time that Arch Manning is going to be a starting quarterback at this level. It will be interesting to see how he does in a difficult SEC with all the expectations, as he is eligible for the 2026 NFL Draft.
