Dan Wetzel: 'How good is Arch Manning?' is college football's No. 1 question ahead 2025 season

For ESPN’s Dan Wetzel, there is one main question for him entering the 2025 college football season. How good is Arch Manning? Manning is taking over as the starting quarterback at Texas, replacing Quinn Ewers after sitting for two years. A ton of hype has followed, but how much of it is real and to what level?

“Going into the season, that’s my number one question,” Wetzel said. “Just how good is Arch Manning? If Arch Manning is everything everyone, kind of, projects him out to be, that we now have the fourth great Manning quarterback, Texas is going to be impossible to beat, they’re going to be really tough. But if he’s just a normal guy — and by normal, I mean really good SEC-level starting QB — where does that take us? What if he struggles some? That, to me, is the single most interesting and uniquely interesting question.”

To an extent, Manning is unlike anything we have ever seen in the sport. Somebody with his name, recruiting ranking, and at a program like Texas is unprecedented. Especially someone who has never previously filled the role as a full-time starter.

Wetzel went back into the history book to find something similar, drawing comparisons to a couple of SEC legends. However, both of the guys he mentioned were returning to school after winning the Heisman Trophy.

“I can’t remember one quarterback having this much attention since — it’s (Tim) Tebow coming back, it’s Johnny Manziel,” Wetzel said. “It’s kind of like everyone believes, ‘Alright, he’s going to be great.’ Well, he’s shown a lot of potential and he’s shown the ability to be really good, both running and passing… But it’s mainly based on his last name, or his first name, too. If his name is not Arch Manning, like, ‘Oh yeah, Texas, they’re loaded but they’ve got a new QB. And he looked pretty good.'”

An answer might be provided pretty quickly to Wetzel and the rest of the college football world. Texas opens the 2025 season in Columbus, going up against the reigning national champions, Ohio State. It will not be Manning’s first experience playing on the road, making an impact against Texas A&M last year with a rushing touchdown. But starting in the Shoe is a completely different ball game.

If Manning performs, the hype will only grow across college football. A poor outing may see more questions, such as Wetzel’s, begin to pop up.