"I'm really proud": Sarkisian beams with pride as Arch Manning shows off electric skills in Week 3 

Arch Manning has been under the spotlight during his time with Steve Sarkisian's Texas. The nephew of NFL stars Eli and Peyton Manning decided to remain with Texas this season.

The majority of analysts said that it would be wise for Arch Manning to enter the transfer portal after the 2023 season as Quinn Ewers decided not to enter the NFL draft. His fourth year with the Longhorns would mean another year of backup duties for Manning.

However, Manning decided to stick it out with the Longhorns and continue building himself up. This thought process seemed to work out for the Manning prodigy. In Week 3, when Ewers had to leave the field due to an abdomen strain, he received the opportunity he had been looking forward to.

After replacing Ewers in the second quarter, Manning threw for 223 yards and scored a total of five touchdowns, leaving fans raving about his abilities after the game.

In the post-game conference, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian praised Arch Manning's performance in Week 3:

"Arch was really our third guy last year, the bulk of the season, and didn't get a ton of experience. So when we went into spring ball, we thought, okay, putting the starter, we got to make sure arch is ready to play. And you never know when that can happen. But there's nothing like being playing in front of 105,000 people is not the easiest thing to do."

"So I'm really proud of Arch and what he's able to do. And I'm really proud of Trey, you know, got a couple of fortunate things in there trying to run it and just kind of get some first downs along the way. He actually operated really, really well for a kid. I think our roots in good shape and coach, we just reach out with those guys, try to tailor our system to the strengths of our quarterbacks, and then make sure the skill players can operate around them. And so I think those guys are very comfortable."

Peyton Manning on Arch's decision to stick with Texas

The transfer portal chatter around Arch Manning grew after the 2024 spring game when he went 19-for-26 for 355 yards.

Ewers was expected to enter the 2024 NFL Draft which would've meant Manning would get the starting job in 2024. This gave rise to various rumors, such as Manning transferring to Josh Heupel's Tennessee when he was spotted in Knoxville, according to an insider on Twitter/X.

While some analysts even criticized Arch Manning for staying in Texas and not entering the transfer portal, his uncle Peyton approved of the fact that he was willing to stick it out with the program.