CFB insider makes a bold prediction for Arch Manning ahead of the 2025-26 college football season

There's a lot of hype around Arch Manning ahead of his first season as Texas’ starting quarterback. The former five-star recruit will take over the starting job next season following the departure of Quinn Ewers, and there’ve been a lot of talks about what he will achieve in the role.

Rece Davis is the latest individual in the media to join the Manning hype train. In his top-five quarterback ranking heading into the 2025 season on an episode of College GameDay Podcast, the ESPN analyst ranked the Longhorns signal caller at the top, ahead of more established names in the landscape.

“My number one quarterback, the guy who’ll have the best season for his team, put up the best numbers? Arch Manning,” Davis said. “And I know that’s what you expected, but not for the reasons. “This is a healthy chunk of my belief in Manning’s talent and a gargantuan chunk in my belief in Steve Sarkisian as a guy who can take quarterbacks and make them succeed beyond what their experience might indicate they would."

Davis’ words echo the strong belief across the landscape in Manning and Texas ahead of the upcoming season. LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier was ranked No. 2 on the list while Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, South Carolina’s LaNorris Seller, and Louisville's Miller Moss took the remaining three spots, respectively.

One analyst can't understand the Arch Manning hype train

The Arch Manning hype train continues to spread around the college football world as the upcoming 2025 season approaches. However, Jake Crain does not have the same belief in the Texas quarterback's potential, expressing his feelings on Hard Count with JD PicKell on Tuesday, June 17.

“When you look at some of these quarterback rankings and people are putting Arch Manning at two, like ahead of guys like Garrett Nussmeier and even Marcel Reed. I think at the moment, it blows my mind,” Crain said. “So, I'm not saying this in any way reflects who Arch Manning is, but to me, you don't have enough information to be able to start putting Manning with what we know now as your number two or number one or really top five returning quarterbacks through all classes. Not newcomers, but through all classes.”

Crain joins a small group of college football analysts who are not sold on the Manning hype. The quarterback showed glimpses of what he can do when he came on in place of Ewers last season. However, some don't believe the performance warrants the hype.

Edited by Tushar Bahl