Texas star opens up about Arch Manning & Co. being “naive” to NIL discussions amid Nico Iamaleava fiasco

Michael Taaffe sang high praises for Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns this Monday at a press conference. He highlighted how the program has managed to shield itself against the worst impulses of the new NIL era of college football.

Speaking about the situation surrounding Nico Iamaleava and the player's decision to leave Tennessee, Taaffe had this to say in comparison to the Longhorns locker room atmosphere:

"What Arch Manning said to ya'll about 'This is where I want to be', and so on. In the day and age of college football right now, that is so cool. To know that a quarterback is saying that because you know, you never judge a book by its cover, so I would never speak on Nico's situation because I don't know who's pulling the strings behind the scenes. Is it really him? Is it, you know, people in his life? Who's really saying, you know, to hold out from practice? It probably isn't just him that's begging for money, right?"

"The cool thing about here is, everything going on in college football. Everybody's freaking out 'What's happening with college football?'. We are so naive to that, like our locker room is so naive to that. Nobody talks about financials, nobody talks about the transfer portal, and who's gonna leave, who's not going to leave, who we are going to bring in. "

Taaffe said that if a player from the pre-NIL, pre-Transfer portal era came to Austin, he could identify the locker room of the Longhorns as something similar to his era. He also praised the environment and the culture that exists inside the program.

Steve Sarkisian on Arch Manning's leadership in spring practice

It seems Arch Manning has come into his own during this spring practice. Speaking with the press last week, coach Steve Sarkisian highlighted the leadership characteristics that have made Manning's spring practice a success.

"I think there's something that's unique about Arch. You can watch him throw and you see when you get up on him in person, man, he's a bigger guy than maybe people think. When you watch him throw, the arm talent and the deep ball is there. Then you watch him move and you're like, wait, this guy's a better athlete than I thought.

"Definitely got grandpa's gene. It's not the uncles, he got grandpa's gene. There's an infectious leadership that he has, that I don't want to say is unintentional because he intentionally leads. You can feel that. But the unintentional leadership ability he has, players gravitate to him, they want to be around him." Said Sarkisian of Arch Manning

After two seasons on the bench, waiting to cover for Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning will step into the spotlight as Texas's starter. The bookies seem to be predicting a season for the ages, as Arch Manning is already the favorite to win the Heisman with odds of +800. LSU's Garrett Nussmeier is the only one that comes close, with odds of +850.