LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Arch Manning comes from a family of Hall of Fame quarterbacks but to Cedric Baxter and other Texas commits here at the Under Armour Next All-America Game, the five-star QB is just a regular guy.
One of them.
“He’s a great person but he’s a competitor,” Baxter said. “He texts us every day like, ‘What are you doing? What are we doing to get better?’ So you can tell he wants to win.
“People get it confused because he’s Arch Manning, that last name carries a lot of weight but he’s a regular teenage kid like the rest of us. He lives like we do. He has to go to class like we do. He’s a regular kid.
“He’s a regular person. If his name was Arch Smith or something you wouldn’t even … he’s the same person.”
Manning remains the top-ranked prospect in the 2023 class and part of the allure is certainly his last name but also that he’s something of a man of mystery in this class. He didn’t do Elite 11. He didn’t attend a Rivals Camp Series event or any other national camp.
He’s not playing in the Under Armour game or the All-American Bowl or the Polynesian Bowl like all the other elite prospects in this class.
But Manning has done a phenomenal job behind the scenes recruiting for this Longhorns class, connecting with top players around the country and focusing on what’s important – bringing wins and possibly titles back to Austin.
Manning isn’t even in Orlando for this game but he’s always a topic of conversation.
“Me and Arch have a great relationship,” Texas four-star receiver signee Johntay Cook said. “It started a year or two years ago at a camp at Texas. I feel like if Arch wasn’t Arch I would still want to play with him just because of the passes I caught from him.
“Yeah, he’s Arch Manning, big name, hoorah, hoorah, but he can throw the ball, bro. He’s cold. For the simple fact he has uncles and a granddad who played at the top levels, like that elite, he has the knowledge. He knows how to read coverage, he knows everything. It’s just a great opportunity to play with a trigger man like that. My dad said all I have to do is catch the ball.
“If you took him to a country that doesn’t watch high school football, he’d be great. He’s chilling, relaxed. He’s relaxed, down-to-earth, my guy.”
It’s one thing for Texas signees to back up Manning. That’s understandable to back up their guy. But numerous uncommitted recruits have also pointed to playing with Manning as a reason why the Longhorns are such a draw in their recruitment.
One of them is five-star tight end Duce Robinson, who has a great relationship with the five-star quarterback and talks to him often.
The Phoenix (Ariz.) Pinnacle standout has a top three of Texas, Georgia and USC and the Longhorns are squarely a contender because of his talks with Arch.
“Anytime we’re together, we really enjoy spending time with each other,” Robinson said. “It would be a lot of fun to catch passes from him.”
