Archie Manning says Arch had difficulty with 1 thing when making his commitment

Jul 16, 2019; Birmingham, AL, USA; Archie Manning speaks during the SEC Legends panel featuring Herschel Walker and Manning and Steve Spurrier discussing 150 years of college football with the media at the Hyatt Regency-Birmingham. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

Arch Manning was one of the most high-profile college football recruits in recent memory and drew all sorts of attention before committing to Texas in June 2022. He has since left high school early to enroll at Texas and join them for spring football, where he is competing for the starting quarterback job.

Though the recruiting battle for Arch ended nearly a year ago, it wasn’t such an easy process.

Archie Manning, who is Arch’s grandfather and the head of the Manning football family, says that Arch had difficulty with one part of his commitment.

Archie joined ESPN’s “SportsCenter” for an interview on Tuesday and said he was proud of his son Cooper and grandson Arch over the way they handled the recruiting process. He also said that Arch had difficulty having to tell Alabama coach Nick Saban and Georgia coach Kirby Smart that he was going to Texas.

“But I think he did his due diligence, I think he took a great look at a lot of schools. I know he made four visits to Texas, four visits to Georgia, four visits to Alabama, I know he had a hard time telling Coach Saban and Coach Smart no but he made his choice and he wanted to play for [Steve Sarkisian] and he’s over there enrolled now,” Manning said.

That makes sense. Both schools recruited Arch hard and wanted him to commit to them, but he chose a soon-to-be SEC rival.

Some recruits will just pick a hat on the day of their announcement, while others do the hard thing and tell coaches they’re not coming to their school. Interestingly, a former player said letting down other coaches was one of the hardest things he had to do too.