AJ McCarron questions whether Arch Manning can live up to hype, family comparison

Former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron believes Arch Manning was put in an almost impossible position to succeed due to preseason hype. The Texas QB and nephew of former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, Arch was hyped as the next big thing in college football by many pundits.

But after the Longhorns lost 14-7 against Ohio State to open the season, public opinion has started to swing in the opposite direction. There’s no shortage of opposing fan bases who want to pile on after the lackluster performance, and many of them are taking aim at Manning.

McCarron appeared on The Dynasty podcast, where he explained that he felt for Manning and the criticism that he was receiving. He thinks a lot of it has to do with the lofty expectations that were placed on him to come in and be a star right away.

“I feel bad for Arch,” the former Alabama QB said. “The hype is just set at such a high level to where I don’t know if the kid can ever live up to it. With the day and age we live in of social media, they already had the memes coming out at halftime against him talking about he was adopted and all kind of crazy stuff. It’s his first start — or his first big-time start of a full season ahead.

“I think Arch had 56 yards passing going into the fourth quarter. Matt Patricia, the new defensive coordinator for Ohio State, made a ton of different looks. Confused him. He looked confused a bunch during the game throwing off his back foot, kinda holding the ball too long. But listen, the kid will be better. Both of those teams are for real. They’ve got really good defenses. I just hate it for the kid because the media has built his hype up so high, I just don’t know how you can be successful with it.”

Manning completed 17 of his 30 passes for 170 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Most of his production came late in the game when things began to click a little for the Longhorns, who didn’t score their first touchdown until the fourth quarter.

Texas does have a few games coming up against some lower level competition, and perhaps that can give Manning a chance to get his feet wet and develop more of a rhythm with the offense. His next big test is a month away on Oct. 4 against Florida.

Eventually, we’ll see whether Week 1 was just an overreaction or if there’s some credence to the idea that Manning isn’t as good as advertised. But McCarron certainly thinks there was too much pressure put on the young QB early in his career.