Quarterback Arch Manning will return to Texas for the 2026 season, his father informed ESPN late Monday night.
“Arch is playing football at Texas next year,” Cooper Manning wrote in a text to the network.
The nephew of Super Bowl MVPs Peyton and Eli and grandson of Archie Manning, Arch is eligible to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft. As a redshirt sophomore, he has two more seasons of eligibility.
The younger Manning was seen as a Heisman Trophy candidate and potential No. 1 overall draft pick in 2026 before enduring a slow start to this season.
He completed 227 of 370 pass attempts for 2,942 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions this season for No. 13 Texas (9-3), which plays No. 18 Michigan (9-3) on Dec. 31 in the Citrus Bowl. The 6-foot-4 Manning also rushed for 244 yards and eight scores.
“He’s a young man who’s gotten better as the season’s gone on, and not only physically, but mentally, maturity-wise,” Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said at a recent media event in Orlando, Fla. “I would think he’s going to want another year of that growth to put himself in position for hopefully a long career in the NFL. And he’s got some unfinished business of what he came here to do and what he came here to accomplish.
“We had a really good football season. We left some meat on the bone with an opportunity to be SEC champs, national champs, and so ultimately for him, I think the competitor in him is going to say, ‘Man, I sure would like another crack at trying to do those things.'”
