Texas Football: Arch Manning felt natural on campus in his visit

Worries had to be felt by Texas football fans in regard to how the visit with the elite five-star Isidore Newman quarterback Arch Manning went over the weekend when the team left a stinker out on the field in the end. Texas and new head coach Steve Sarkisian really needed a bounce-back win over the No. 12 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys last weekend.

It was anything but that for Sark and the Longhorns in a detrimental collapse in the second straight game, which led to a loss to Oklahoma State by the final score of 32-24. Texas was outscored 16-0 in the fourth quarter. Oklahoma State ultimately scored 19 straight points to round out this game with an eight-point win.

Yet, it seems like the harm done on the recruiting trail with the two straight meltdowns that Sark and the Longhorns saw on the field in the last two weekends was minimal. That is at least some type of good news for the Longhorns when there’s not much to speak of in the win column.

Manning still seemingly had a positive visit to the Forty Acres last weekend, despite all of the chaos that transpired on the field for the Longhorns against the Pokes. By all accounts, Manning liked the feel of this Texas visit.

Texas football still making a good pitch to 5-Star QB Arch Manning

And it wasn’t just the atmosphere on the Forty Acres for the game that apparently appealed to Manning. He liked how the staff treated him again, and like the campus itself.

If Texas can prove to Manning that they can find success on the field when he’s playing in college, it sounds like they will be one of the top two or three schools to ultimately land his commitment. There seems to be some solid traction between the likes of Sark, quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee, and Manning.

Despite the problems on the field, Manning sounds like he likes what he’s seen from Texas off the field and just in terms of the general atmosphere around Austin. The same could be said for the Manning family.

This family surely knows the recruiting process. And just about every blue blood around the country likely gave some type of unique pitch to Manning at some point in the past 18-24 months.

The fact that Texas is still sticking around in the thick of things with rival programs on the recruiting trail like the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs is a testament to the job that the staff is doing with Manning. Now the staff needs to get that type of traction on the field this fall.

Texas heads into the bye week with what should still be a good level of confidence on the recruiting trail. But Texas needs to soon get that elusive first commit in the 2023 class. Hopefully, the Longhorns moved a bit closer to landing a commitment from Manning, despite the loss, last weekend.