Texas Longhorns young star quarterback Arch Manning spent the first two years of his college career sitting behind starter Quinn Ewers, but it sounds like he learned a pretty important lesson from his teammate.
Throughout the season, there have were many calls from fans and media members for Arch Manning to replace Quinn Ewers as the team’s starter, especially given the way that Manning performed when he did get the opportunity to play.
Ewers did not let that talk bother him, and Manning made it clear that he admired Ewers for that.
“What I’ve learned most from Quinn is how he handles the media,” Manning said at Peach Bowl Media Day according to 247 Sports. “He doesn’t really let that get to him. He treats me the same. I know it’s probably not easy with me being the backup. Everyone is trying to talk about it all the time, but he doesn’t let it bother him at all. He’s just one of the guys and one of my good friends.”
Of course, that’s something Ewers had to learn to block out over the years.
Ewers faced a lot of pressure coming out of high school as he was rated as the top quarterback prospect of all-time with a perfect rating in the 247Sports composite high school recruiting ratings – something only former Texas quarterback Vince Young accomplished in the past.
Ewers admitted that he paid a lot more attention to the media early in his career, but he learned to block it out.
“Through my first year here, I was for sure wanting to know what people were saying about me, what I did that week or whatever,” Ewers said before the Cotton Bowl. “But then that [2022] season didn’t go how we wanted [8-5], and I realized that something had to change.
“I could just feel God telling me, ‘It doesn’t matter what these people are saying about you. I know who you are, and you know who you are, so just rely on what I’m telling you.'”
Clearly, Manning wants to take that same approach as he takes over as the team’s starter next season.
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