Arch Manning’s recruitment process over the past few years was heavily publicized, resulting in the quarterback choosing to attend Texas in 2023. Many teams were in on Manning, but coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns program landed the top recruit.
Earlier this year, Cooper Manning said his son took control of his own recruitment process, which means that Arch was the driving force behind making the decision. And, in an interview with Sports Illustrated‘s Ross Dellenger, Archie Manning explained his grandson’s decision even further.
Archie explained that Arch and Sarkisian hit it off the moment they first met.
“You could say that Sark was his first love,” Archie said. “He started talking to Sark on Zoom calls when Sark was at Alabama. Kirby [Smart] and coach [Nick] Saban recruited him hard. They checked every box in Arch’s mind.”
Schools started recruiting Arch when he was in middle school, but Arch really first started looking at schools in 2020, when Sarkisian was still the offensive coordinator at Alabama. Once he took the job at Texas, Sarkisian used the relationship he had with Arch to bring him over to Austin.
Besides Texas, Archie said that Arch also considered Alabama and Georgia, and “it was hard for him to say no” to those two schools. In total, Arch made 20 college visits, 12 of which were to those three schools.
Archie added that Arch will enroll for the spring semester and start classes in January to get a head start.
