Urban Meyer compares Arch Manning attention to what he saw with Tim Tebow

When Texas took its turn at SEC Media Days, the spotlight shined bright on Arch Manning. The Longhorns’ new starting quarterback became the focus in Atlanta as reporters swarmed around his podium during his breakout session at the College Football Hall of Fame.

It was a whole new level of attention around an SEC quarterback with some comparing it to when Tim Tebow was preparing for his senior year at Florida. Urban Meyer was Tebow’s coach that year, and he sees those striking similarities.

The buzz around Manning has been building since he was the top-rated recruit from the 2023 cycle. He then sat behind Quinn Ewers for two years and will now get his turn as the starter this coming season. Coming from one of football’s most famous families, all eyes are on Manning, and Meyer pointed out how it reminds him of the Tebow hype.

“Really interesting here and I’ve got a strong opinion because I coached Tebow,” Meyer said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “After he won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore, he won the national championship as a junior. His senior year, the scrutiny and the expectations – we beat Tennessee by 14 points, he’d throw the ball and he’d be getting hammered by the media. He didn’t play well enough.

“I think this will be the player with the highest expectations in the last decade. I put it at the Tebow level where, is anything going to be good enough other than a perfect game?”

Urban Meyer: Pressure on Arch Manning will be ‘immense’

As Tebow rose to stardom, he was part of two national championship teams, including his junior year in 2008 when he won the Heisman Trophy. Those accolades meant Tebow was one of the biggest stars in the sport, and expectations were sky high.

Manning, meanwhile, only started a few games while Ewers was down with an injury. In 12 career games, he has 969 career passing yards and nine touchdowns to go with 115 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

But he had a high profile since before he even got to Texas, and his On3 NIL Valuation soared to $6.8 million ahead of his redshirt sophomore season. With the Heisman Trophy chatter and national championship buzz growing rapidly, Meyer thinks Steve Sarkisian is the right coach to lead Manning through the noise.

“He plays in the SEC,” Meyer said. “He’s going to play SEC defenses each week. He’s playing the Ohio State Buckeyes early. I think he’s a tremendous talent, but I’m glad he’s got a head coach like Sark that knows how to handle pressure like this because the pressure on him will be immense.

“We haven’t witnessed this kind of pressure on a player, I’m saying, since Tim Tebow’s senior year at the University of Florida. It was nonstop. We went 12-0 his senior year and nothing was good enough. And I worry about that. That wears on you. That wears on the staff, but most importantly, it’s going to wear on Arch Manning.”