Arch Manning admits hearing smack talk from opposing fans fires him up

Coming from the first family of football, Arch Manning has heard plenty of vitriol from opposing fan bases in his still-burgeoning career. Whether it was at Isidore Newman High as the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle or as Texas‘ much-ballyhooed backup quarterback the past two seasons, the youngest Manning scion has heard it all — even when he tries his best to block it out.

But as Manning prepares for his first true road test at the Longhorns’ starting quarterback in Saturday’s season-opening Top 3 matchup at No. 3 Ohio State, the Texas QB1 admitted he tends to feed off the hate from opposing fanbases. At least when he actually allows himself to hear it.

“I feel like I do a good job of just zoning everything out, but if I hear it, I guess it kind of fires me up,” Manning said during Monday’s player availability in Austin.

Whether or not that’ll end up paying dividends in Saturday’s much-anticipated road contest from Columbus will likely depend on what sort of reaction he receives from the Ohio State faithful.

“It depends how loud they are I guess,” Manning said with a smile.

Paul Finebaum makes prediction on Arch Manning in Week 1 game between Texas, Ohio State

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is high on Arch Manning, obviously, and offered a bold prediction ahead of the Week 1 matchup between Texas and Ohio State. In a new ESPN segment dubbed “Crystal Paul,” Finebaum looked into the future.

Manning has a lot of pressure to succeed this season due to the immense hype and, of course, his last name. Not only that, the Longhorns are the preseason No. 1 team taking on the No. 3 Buckeyes, the defending champions.

But Finebaum is quite confident we’ll see a masterful performance from Manning and Texas. It’ll be all the more impressive if he does it considering Texas has to travel to Columbus.

“Guess who? Arch ‘Madness,’” Finebaum said on SportsCenter. “It’s going to be Arch ‘Madness’ after the game. Manning leads the Longhorns to a smashing victory. I’ve been accused of being a little bit too high on Arch. I don’t think that you can be high enough on this young man. He is outstanding. I know the last name, we all do, but he is ready for this moment, and he is going to perform beautifully next Saturday. I can’t wait.”

— On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this report.