Could Arch Manning Potentially Transfer for 2024?

To Texas fans, it’s been known since the start of the season that freshman phenom Arch Manning has been third on the depth chart behind starting junior quarterback Quinn Ewers and redshirt freshman quarterback Maalik Murphy.

Arch Manning is a name familiar to many as the grandson of Ole Miss quarterback legend Archie Manning, and nephew of former Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning and Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning. The long-lasting legacy of the Manning name helped boost Arch’s recruitment in the 2023 class to the forefront, and it wasn’t a fraud either as Arch’s high school numbers were paralleled by very few.

Arch Manning was the number five overall prospect according to the ESPN 300 high school recruitment rankings for the class of 2023. Manning threw for 8,599 passing yards with 115 touchdowns and only 20 interceptions going 34-9 as a starter in his high school career.

The problem is, there is competition wherever you go. So although Manning is skilled, so is everyone else; including the other two quarterbacks mentioned ahead of him on the depth chart on the Longhorns roster. With many expecting junior Quinn Ewers to bolt for the NFL after this season, the theory going into 2023 was that Manning would take the reins. That was made evident since spring practice and into the fall that that wasn’t necessarily the case. And we saw that first-hand this past Saturday against BYU when the Longhorns trotted out 2022 recruit Maalik Murphy for his first collegiate start.

Murphy proved his worth in the game passing for 170 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in route to a 35-6 victory over the BYU Cougars. ESPN ranked Murphy as a four-star quarterback and the 252nd best prospect in the 2022 ESPN 300 recruitment rankings. Considering the thousands of high school football players across the country, this isn’t too shabby either. And it shows that at whatever division one football program one goes to, they’ll have to scratch and claw for their spot – even if their last name is Manning.

Could Arch Manning potentially transfer for 2024?

In theory, if both Murphy and Manning stay for the next four years and Murphy remained ahead of Manning on the depth chart like this past weekend, that wouldn’t put Manning on the field as the starting quarterback until 2027. Murphy would be eligible through 2026 despite being in his second season in Austin due to redshirting last year. And Manning so far this season would be following the same path just one year behind.

Is this scenario likely? Probably not. Almost no one that’s a five-star quarterback would anticipate sitting the bench for four years waiting their turn. And no one would blame them for getting impatient and transferring.

According to Fox Sports, the University of Texas spent $280,000 on Manning’s recruitment visit.

With this kind of money, naturally one would think Manning would slide right into the number two spot behind proven Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers, but this was not the case. This begs the question however if Manning came in ready to compete as all do assuming that he could bypass Murphy on the depth chart. He still may, but only time will tell.