Arch Manning is one of the top quarterback prospects of the class of 2023, but uncle Eli doesn’t want him to forget the small stuff.
The five-star prospect will visit Ole Miss, a school with deep ties to the Manning family. His grandfather, Archie, and Eli both played quarterback for the Rebels.
However, before Arch takes his trip to Oxford, Eli told NFL Network that he gave the rising junior at Isidore Newman in New Orleans some valuable advice.
“I told Arch that he’s going into his junior year of high school, and to not forget that’s a pretty special time in your life,” Manning said. “Enjoy being a junior in high school, enjoy being the quarterback of your high school team, playing with your buddies and teammates, the guys you’ve grown up with and been playing backyard football with since you were 10 years old. … Don’t get so overwhelmed with the college thing that you forget about the time of your life that you’re in right now.”
Eli also added that he was astounded by the differences in recruitment now in comparison to when he was a recruit over 20 years ago.
“Recruiting starts earlier. You go to these camps, the communication, the Zooms going on, the texting,” Eli said.
“It’s a whole new world for recruiting, and I almost feel bad for the high school kids. It’s lot to go on their shoulders.”
The 16-year-old Arch traveled to six other universities this summer: Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, SMU and Texas. Ole Miss will be his final college visit.
While he had many visits to the family alma mater, Cooper Manning said that he and his high school star son have to evaluate the campus and program through a recruitment lens.