“Need to see more”: NFL Vet sets clear expectations for Arch Manning as he ranks his top 5 SEC QBs

Syndication: Austin American-Statesman - Source: Imagn

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning is slated to take over the starting job next season. After two seasons playing behind Quinn Ewers, he will be the starting QB for one of the powerhouse programs in the SEC. He is already projected to be one of the best QBs in the SEC despite his limited starting experience at the college level.

On Friday, former NFL player Chris Doering appeared on the 'SEC Network' to talk about the best QBs in the SEC heading into next season. He revealed his list of the five best QBs in the SEC and Arch Manning landed at three.

Although Doering likes what he has seen from Manning, the former NFL player does not think he can rank the 19-year-old any higher before he is tried and tested at the college level. The 51-year-old said on SEC Network:

"At number three, again I think a lot of people probably have Arch Manning at number one. [But] on my list, I need to see more [to put him at #1]. We've seen him in spots but I'm not ranking anybody higher until we've actually seen it against SEC play consistently."

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Manning has very little experience playing at the college level despite the hype he has received. He started two games last season when Quinn Ewers went down with an injury, but has very little experience other than that.

Arch Manning is one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy in the 2025 season

NFL veteran Chris Doering has Arch Manning as his third-best QB in the SEC behind Florida's DJ Lagway and LSU's Garrett Nussmeier. However, Doering has a much more cautious approach than many other pundits. Notably, sportsbooks are higher on Manning's odds of establishing himself as one of the best players in the nation.

According to FanDuel, Manning is tied with Nussmeier as the co-favorite to win the Heisman Trophy next season. They both have +800 odds. Conversely, Lagway, who ranks at the top of Doering's list, has the 10th best odds at +1800.

The biggest issue Doering has with projecting Manning to be the best QB in the SEC next season is he has not seen him play much against high-level competition. His two starts came against UL Monroe and Mississippi State. Although Mississippi State is an SEC team, it was not a strong team last season.

It will be interesting to see how Manning performs when the season starts.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Satagni Sikder