The Arch Manning era at Texas is still a few months away from officially starting, but the QB is already drawing a huge comparison from Fox Sports' Joel Klatt.
Manning, who started two games last season while Quinn Ewers was injured, will be thrown right into the fire in Week 1 when the Longhorns face Ohio State on the road in a game that will have Klatt on the call.
Klatt loved what he saw from Manning last season and said on The Herd on Friday that he reminds him a lot of Trevor Lawerence, the Jacksonville Jaguars QB who went No. 1 overall in the 2021 NFL draft.
“I believe Arch, I rated him … as the second-best quarterback in college football going into next year. I’m a big believer,” Klatt said. “Maybe that’s Kool-Aid drinking, I’m not sure, but when I watch him play, he threatens every blade of grass on the field with a really strong arm, and he’s accurate and smart with it, and he’s better throwing the ball down the field than even Quinn Ewers was and then all of a sudden, in those couple of starts that he got, he flashed this ability to run. I was like, ‘Whoa. That looks like Trevor Lawrence.’ So that’s my comp to Arch."
Klatt added:
“I think Arch is a lot of what we saw Trevor Lawrence become at Clemson. Lawrence had a lot of success early. Remember his true freshman year, he led them to a national championship. And I think Arch, the biggest question I have for Arch is not him, actually, it’s more about rebuilding that offensive line.”
That's some high praise for Manning. It will be interesting to see if he can live up to that in his first full season as a starter.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Joel Klatt Compares Arch Manning to Current NFL QB Who Was No. 1 Overall Pick.