In a recent sit down with Sportsboom.com, Desmond Howard criticized Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning after his recent underwhelming performance against Ohio State in Week 1.
Howard reiterated multiple times that if Manning was a legitimate Heisman contender, he would've stepped up and shown it against the Buckeyes:
"I don't like people talking about players at the beginning of the season as if they're legitimate Heisman candidates unless they were finalists the year before."
"Unless you're on stage as a finalist in 2024, I don't need people talking about this person should be the Heisman front runner. I thought that the hype around Arch Manning was not warranted whatsoever."
"When I say he went out against Ohio State and proved me right, it kind of goes back to that same mindset that I mentioned earlier when I talk about how I judge these teams, judge Heisman Trophy candidates by what you do in the big games."
"If he was a legitimate candidate, for me, he would have had to have gone out there and performed on that big stage. Because when you talk Heisman, you're talking about the best of the best of the best in the sport. You're not saying he's the guy who should win the Davey O'Brien award, the Johnny Unitas award. That's a different conversation. You're talking about he's a guy who should be mentioned in the Heisman conversation. That's when it starts in a big game like that."
Though some of what Howard said is definitely warranted based on the product that we saw on the field last Saturday, I still believe that Manning has a chance to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country in 2025.
One underwhelming performance in the first week of the campaign doesn't define a player's season or career. This team still has to go through a tough SEC gauntlet in 2025, with plenty of "big games" for Arch to go out and prove himself in.
We'll see if Desmond Howard is still saying the same thing when it's all said and done this year, especially if Texas makes the playoffs and does well in the postseason.