Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning has had a rough couple of weeks. The Longhorns dropped their second straight game on Saturday, falling 27-24 to the Florida Gators at home, and Manning has faced no shortage of criticism for his backbreaking mistakes that continue to cost his team in critical moments.
“We showed arrogance in believing that Arch Manning can do anything. And he almost did, except he finally got in the way of himself,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show, via Awful Announcing.
“I came away thinking, I don’t know what this guy’s going to do. Because he is not the elite player that we all tried to make him out to be,” Finebaum added. “He can be great in moments, as we saw near the end of the game, as he threw that great play that set up the touchdown, but he can just be downright stupid in others.”
NFL draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. went as far as to say that Manning, who came into the season widely expected to be the first overall pick in the 2027 NFL draft, is better off returning to college for a fifth year.
“All I’ll say is right now, you’ve got to go back to college for another year,” Kiper on First Draft. “And if you don’t, it’s got to be the Green Bay Packer model of Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers where you’ve got your guy and you’re picking late first round, and you’ve got your quarterback for another three years – I’m saying three years. I’m not saying one, I’m not saying two.
“Patrick Mahomes sat for a year. Let’s forget the year. For Arch, I think it’s three years. It’s got to be the Jordan Love, Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers model if he comes out.”
Now, Kiper’s colleague at ESPN, Dan Orlovsky, is taking things a step further, and saying that not only should Manning return to school, but that he should enter the transfer portal and finish his collegiate career at a different school.
“Arch should definitely go back to school (as of right now) and definitely not at Texas,” he posted on X on Tuesday.
Arch should definitely go back to school (as of right now) and definitely not at Texas.
@PaulHembo
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) October 20, 2026
Kiper believes Manning needs to improve his consistency, and it would appear that Orlovsky just isn’t sure that the young quarterback is going to find that consistency under Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, something another ESPN star, Paul Finebaum, would agree with.
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