Mel Kiper, Greg McElroy push back on viral Arch Manning slander from Jordan Rodgers

It’s been a long time since the hype around a quarterback has matched the hype surrounding Texas Longhorns starter Arch Manning. That has, seemingly, drawn some pushback. In particular, former quarterback and current analyst Jordan Rodgers recently went viral for his negative comments about the latest Manning quarterback.

“But I’ll say this — and I don’t know what you guys talked about when I was off-air — the hype doesn’t match the tape. There are good things,” Rodgers previously said on Get Up. “But the tape doesn’t scream first-round draft pick, Top 10 pick, No. 1 overall, or Heisman hopeful.”

On Thursday morning, Get Up had another pair of analysts, Greg McElroy and Mel Kiper, on to respond. There, both pushed back on Rodgers’ comments. In McElroy’s case, he did see reasons to be this excited on film from the small sample he played in relief of an injured Quinn Ewers last season.

“I’m gonna respectfully disagree,” McElroy said. “I went back and watched the tape yesterday and was like, ‘Maybe Arch is better than I thought after watching a few plays because, man, his game against Mississippi State in particular was off the charts good. Watch this play. You’ve got a guy off the edge. He has to negotiate that pass rush. Steps up beautifully. Here’s what makes him different. Look at the angles the defenders take. Those are terrible. Yes, that is an indictment on the defenders. Sure, but it might be showing just how fast Arch is.”

Over the course of Manning’s career, he’s completed 63-of-95 passes for a 66.3 completion percentage. He has 969 career passing yards for nine touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s also rushed for 115 yards and four touchdowns in his career.

“Look how fast and how he steps up. This is very hard for a quarterback. Throws back across his body to his right. That’s a long throw to the right. Hits it in stride. I saved the best for last. You’re gonna love this. You know it’s all out pressure. Flat-top defense. One-on-one coverage. You know your protection is overloaded. Arch knows that off the right-hand side, he’s got to beat the unblocked defender. He does in 2.2 seconds, and look at the accuracy and the ball placement down the field. A lot of guys know with an unblocked defender you’ve got to get it out. It’s gonna be a two-, three three-yard hot route. Not a lot of guys are taking shots downfield, knowing you have all-out Cover-0 on the defensive side. He drops it in the bucket beautifully,” McElroy said.

“I think he’s absolutely gonna live up to expectations. Not so much that he’s the biggest freak we’ve ever seen throwing it, but I think his acumen, his understanding, his accuracy, and I think his preparedness over the past few years has him positioned to have a tremendous first year as a starting quarterback.”

Manning’s first game of the 2025 season is on the road against Ohio State. That’s no way to ease into being the full-time starter. It’s also why Kiper believes that it’s okay if he struggles in this one game because he still has time beyond the opener to live up to that hype.

“When you look at where we are with Arch, to play this opponent,” Kiper said. “I think Jordan was talking about the cupcakes. At Ohio State, at the Shoe. High noon kickoff against Matt Patricia. That’s going to be tough to navigate, but they have three cupcakes after this to right the ship. Keep in mind, Arch Manning after this year, only had two starts last year, maybe he’ll end up with 17. Mitchell Trubisky, Mark Sanchez, Trey Lance. Think about guys like that — Anthony Richardson. Lot of quarterbacks that didn’t have many starts struggled in the NFL, some of those guys. So, you think about Arch, he can go back for another year. We anticipate he will.”

Manning’s grandfather, Archie Manning, already announced that Arch would be back at Texas in 2026. Even with Arch pushing back on that a little, it showed a good bit of insight into the approach he and his family are taking to his career.

“So this game’s not all about this game,” Kiper said. “If he does have some issues, it won’t be unexpected because you are playing a defense that has talent. It has Matt Patricia, and you’re on the road. The expectations and the pressure is immense for this kid. So, even if he does struggle, so be it. They still have time. They can still make the Playoff, obviously, with a couple of losses. So, the season’s not over. It’s certainly not over for Arch and this Texas Longhorns football team if, in fact, they do have some struggles at The Shoe, high noon on Saturday.”

Texas and Ohio State open the 2025 season in Columbus at noon on Saturday, August 30th. For Arch Manning, it’s the beginning of his journey to living up to the hype that has surrounded him, going back to his high school career.