Just a month ago, all of college football was focused on the hype around Texas quarterback Arch Manning as he headed into his first season as the true starter for the Longhorns.
Then, that hype has rapidly diminished after Manning struggled through his first three games of the year, losing to Ohio State and playing far from perfect against San Jose State and UT-El Paso.
Now, just a quarter of the way through the regular season, Manning has found himself on a list that nobody could have predicted befor the Week 1’s kick off.
Is Arch Manning the most disappointing player of the 2025 season?
Blake Brockermeyer, a college football analyst for 247Sports and CBS Sports, recently included Manning alongside 11 other collegiate athletes as the 12 most disappointing players so far this season.
Manning wasn’t the only quarterback to make the list, as Brockermeyer also included Florida’s DJ Lagway, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava, Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, UNC’s Gio Lopez, and Iowa’s Mark Gronowski.
However, Brockermeyer truly ripped into Manning’s season thus far, stating that “even modest expectations have felt disappointing.”
He went on to point out that Texas’s QB1 has completed just over 55 percent of his pass attempts. Brockermeyer did slightly misstate Manning’s statline, saying the quarterback has six interceptions and three touchdowns while, in reality, he has the opposite: six touchdowns and three interceptions.
Brockermeyer isn’t wrong, other than his incorrect stat. Manning has been undeniably disappointing so far this season, and people have been calling for a backup to come in, even though he leads the team with 112 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
The running success is great, but as Brockermeyer pointed out, it isn’t how Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian wants to utilize his QB1.
With SEC play right around the corner, Manning is going to have to step up his in-game performance or the Longhorns might have a new quarterback running the offense much sooner than expected.
This Saturday, Texas takes on the Sam Houston Bearkats at 7 p.m. CT in Manning’s last chance before the Horns start their SEC schedule against the Florida Gators on Saturday, Oct. 4.