Assessing 3 must-get 5-Star recruits for Texas football in June

Arch Manning, QB

We can’t talk about the summer recruiting season for Sark and the Longhorns without mentioning the importance of the elite five-star Isidore Newman quarterback Arch Manning to the 2023 class.

As the most important target of the Longhorns 2023 class by far, Manning is going to command the spotlight in the midst of the summer visit season for Sark and his staff. “Arch madness” is going to take center stage once again on the recruiting trail this offseason on the Forty Acres.

At this point of his recruitment, Manning is likely down to a top group of two schools that includes the Georgia Bulldogs and Texas. He is scheduled for official visits to Georgia (June 3) and Texas (June 17).

But we can’t count out the Alabama Crimson Tide from the equation right now in the race to land a commitment from Arch. While Alabama certainly didn’t help themselves with Arch by taking a commitment from the former Texas A&M pledge and four-star Louisiana quarterback Eli Holstein a couple of weeks ago, it still looks like Manning is considering them entering the summer.

Arch is still slated to take an official visit to Alabama on June 10. And it looks like the intention for head coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide is to attempt to get two quarterbacks signed in the 2023 class by landing Arch and Holstein.

Yet, Texas definitely needs a commitment from Arch to avoid this 2023 class really being a letdown when it’s all said and done. It’s hard to see a path forward for this 2023 class to achieve national prominence and really bring some championship-caliber talent to Austin without nabbing Arch either in the summer or the fall.

I believe that a summer decision timeline from Arch would ultimately be to the benefit of the Longhorns. That would allow Texas to get the final official visit (in all likelihood) from Arch before he announces a decision. And even if Arch were to commit to Georgia this summer, it would give Texas the fall to prove themselves on the field and to try eventually flip him before the first signing day.