Like his uncles, Peyton and Eli, Arch Manning won’t be heading to the NFL until spends four years playing college football. He’s returning to the Texas Longhorns in 2026 and will play in their upcoming Citrus Bowl matchup vs. Michigan.
In 12 regular-season games this year, Manning completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 2,942 yards with a 24/7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He added 244 rushing yards and eight TDs, averaging 2.9 yards per carry.
However, Manning played much better in the last seven games for Texas when it compiled a 6-1 record. During that stretch, he had a 13/2 TD-INT ratio with three rushing TDs.
As a redshirt freshman in 2024, Manning appeared in 10 games and started two of those. He connected on 61-of-90 throws (67.8%) for 939 yards and nine TDs compared to a pair of interceptions. Manning ran for 108 yards and four TDs while averaging 4.3 YPC.
Manning appeared in just two games and 2023 and took a redshirt.
In 24 career games, Manning has completed 290-of-465 passes (62.4%) for 3,911 yards with a 33/9 TD-INT ratio. He has 359 career rushing yards and 12 TDs with a 3.2 YPC average.
The Longhorns have posted an 11-3 straight-up record in Manning’s 14 career starts, but they’ve limped to a 5-8-1 against-the-spread mark.
Arch’s father, Cooper Manning, sent a text message to ESPN’s Dave Wilson earlier this week that said, “Arch is playing football at Texas next year.”
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was recently at a media event for the bowl game and offered these thoughts on Manning, “He’s a young man who’s gotten better as the season’s gone on, and not only physically, but mentally, maturity-wise,” Sarkisian said. “I would think he’s going to want another year of that growth to put himself in position for hopefully a long career in the NFL. And he’s got some unfinished business of what he came here to do and what he came here to accomplish.
“We had a really good football season. We left some meat on the bone with an opportunity to be SEC champs, national champs, and so ultimately for him, I think the competitor in him is going to say, ‘Man, I sure would like another crack at trying to do those things.'”
As of Wednesday afternoon, most books had Texas listed as a 7.5-point favorite vs. the Wolverines, who were +250 on the money line. The total was in the 45.5 to 46.5 range.