Ex-NFL player drops eye-catching statement while breaking down Arch Manning's "phenomenal" ability

When Heisman-favorite quarterback Quinn Ewers went down with an injury earlier this season, Arch Manning needed to step up in his absence for the Texas Longhorns. Manning, related to former NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning, is only a redshirt freshman quarterback. However, he has performed very well in Ewers' absence.

Rod Babers, a former NFL cornerback who played in the league from 2003 to 2005, hosts "3rd & Longhorn," a weekly Texas Longhorn football show. Babers broke down why the Texas quarterback room is special.

"Arch Manning, he was unbelievable," he said. "The exponential leap of improvement you saw from him from start one to start two shows you he's a prodigy. So, I mean that guy was phenomenal. I think Pro Football Focus had him graded as the highest graded quarterback in the country, in the country, right, that's Texas' backup."

"So, he was phenomenal. I think for Texas overall though, Texas backup was the highest rated quarterback. No doubt, it was unbelievable, and by the way it should have been, you know, probably some loftier numbers, gaudier numbers, but we're not going to get into that because we're not hating on nobody."

Pro Football Focus is a sports analytics company. It focuses on analyzing NFL and NCAA football players. It tries to take subjectivity out of the evaluation of players and purely look at players through an analytical model.

How long will Arch Manning be the starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns?

Per Rod Baber, Arch Manning has done a phenomenal job as a backup quarterback stepping into the backup role. In four games, including two in which he didn't play the full game, Manning has completed 55 of 78 passing attempts and thrown for 901 yards and nine touchdowns. Additionally, he has 13 carries for 82 yards and three touchdowns.

However, the quarterback he replaced, Quinn Ewers, was the Heisman favorite when he went down. So, when Ewers gets healthy, he will likely get the starting job back, no matter how good Manning has been.

According to a report from Anwar Richardson, Ewers was a full participant in practice this week. He was not expected to return this week against Mississippi State but could return for the Cotton Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners on Oct. 12.