CFB YouTuber draws bold comparisons between Arch Manning's situation at Texas and Nico Iamaleava amid NIL debacles

The Longhorns nation has been waiting for Arch Manning to take the spotlight as QB1 for two years now, while originally, he would've expected to wait for one year. But Quinn Ewers' decision to return for another year meant getting benched for two years for Manning.

Talking about Arch Manning's impact on the Longhorns amid the Nico Iamaleava situation on Tuesday, college football YouTuber "CFB Tingz" said:

"He's (Arch Manning) just focused on playing football, that's about the resources. There's not many people playing football that can solely just focus on, oh, I'm just playing football because, hey, life is life, man, right? Y'all want to get mad at these kids for demanding money, but when the economy is how the economy is like, I never understood.

"I never understood getting mad at young people trying to maximize their opportunity as a young adult, do people know that? Do people know when Nico [Iamaleava] and his family make the decision, whether you think it's right or wrong, maybe there were other things going on, right? Maybe there were things promised." (5:00)

He compared how the top five quarterbacks from Arch Manning's class have all transferred to different schools. However, he did emphasize that Manning's situation is very different from others because of his last name.

He compared Manning's situation with Deion Sanders and his son Shedeur Sanders and shared that the mindset of such situations is a lot different from that of somebody who doesn't come from a rich background.

Steve Sarkisian compares Arch Manning's leadership style to Quinn Ewers

Arch Manning waited two whole years behind Quinn Ewers before being named the Longhorns' QB1, which means he has been under Ewers' leadership for the past two years.

During a conversation on Apr. 2 on the "Clean Pocket" podcast with Jay Gruden and Colt McCoy, Sarkisian heaped praise on Manning's leadership qualities.

"Just his leadership," Sarkisian said on the show. [16:08] "This guy's got charisma, you can feel it. That's not a knock against Quinn, everybody leads differently, but he's got something about him that guys gravitate to. That's just always a great thing to have as a quarterback.

"You want the players to play for you, not in spite of you. You want those guys to want to play even better because of who you are, not because 'I need to do it for me.' They show that they want to do it, and Arch has that about him. He's talented and nobody works harder, nobody is in the film room more than he is."

The Longhorns will kick off the 2025 college football season against Ohio State on Aug. 30.