Looking back at Arch’s 2023 Recruiting Ranking

[Bevo92]

Listening to OTF Coffee & Football this am, it got me to looking back at 2023 QB recruiting rankings.

ESPN ranked Arch the #5 player nationally and #3 QB behind Malachi Nelson and Dante Moore. 🤣

On3 ranked Arch the #2 QB behind Nico.🤪

247 and Rivals both ranked Arch the best QB and #1 overall recruit in the country. 🤘🏼🧡

Think there will be no doubt after the next 2 seasons who the clear #1 player in the 2023 recruiting class was. 

Hook em! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Edited 8 hours ago by Bevo92

[Jarveaux]

ESPN - Fake News , it was more a slam on Texas than their true thoughts of Arch .

 

kinda like Nick Saban making the comment Texas won’t dominate the SEC . How’s that working out . Know matter who you are you should be careful of what you say . ESPN & Saban will both be proven wrong. 

[dwmundy]

8 minutes ago, Jarveaux said:

ESPN - Fake News , it was more a slam on Texas than their true thoughts of Arch .

 

kinda like Nick Saban making the comment Texas won’t dominate the SEC . How’s that working out . Know matter who you are you should be careful of what you say . ESPN & Saban will both be proven wrong. 

Agreed. I remember when ESPN dropped Arch below Malachi, they had 5 articles up that day about Arch being overrated and Malachi stories. If I remember, it was even on their main page. It was a PR job to generate interest in them. In high school, you could debate Nico be #1 but I’d still take Arch due to family lineage and what he was doing. But Jackson Arnold and Malachi debates were a joke

[thatdude2]

31 minutes ago, Jarveaux said:

ESPN - Fake News , it was more a slam on Texas than their true thoughts of Arch .

 

kinda like Nick Saban making the comment Texas won’t dominate the SEC . How’s that working out . Know matter who you are you should be careful of what you say . ESPN & Saban will both be proven wrong. 

I always took his comments “Texas won’t run the SEC” to be an administrative comment. Texas didn’t dominate the Big 12 on the football field, but Texas definitely called the shots in a lot of ways, and they were paid more (with Oklahoma) than their counterparts. Do you see an SEC where Texas gets a bigger piece of the pie than all the other SEC teams? Do you see Texas being the biggest influence to how the SEC is ran? Do you see Texas running of programs like Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, Florida like Texas did with Nebraska, Colorado, A&M, and Missouri?

[thatdude2]

26 minutes ago, dwmundy said:

Agreed. I remember when ESPN dropped Arch below Malachi, they had 5 articles up that day about Arch being overrated and Malachi stories. If I remember, it was even on their main page. It was a PR job to generate interest in them. In high school, you could debate Nico be #1 but I’d still take Arch due to family lineage and what he was doing. But Jackson Arnold and Malachi debates were a joke

Some say it was due to Arch not participating in the Elite 11 (Malachi did not either), and Arch not being in the Under Armour game. They probably thought they would be safe in putting Malachi #1 since he was going to USC. He sat behind Williams, and then he had an offensive coach in Riley. 

[ArizonaLonghorn]

55 minutes ago, Bevo92 said:

ESPN ranked Arch the #5 player nationally and #3 QB behind Malachi Nelson and Dante Moore.

ESPN said they were dropping Arch below the other QBs because he wouldn't compete in the summer camps like Elite 11.  They said because he played at a small high school it was hard to evaluate him properly and so they were rewarding players who (in their words) "were willing to compete against their peers at a high level".  I remember specifically that Moore had a good camp and ESPN made a big deal about elevating him above Arch because of that.

I thought at the time it seemed petty and spiteful, maybe a little dumb, to downgrade a player just because he didn't go to Elite 11 camp.  Also, not a bad way to click-bait more attention to their recruiting pay site I guess?

Obviously they were wrong (Nelson went from USC -> Boise State -> UTEP !!!) and I'm not defending ESPN, just relating what they wrote on the espn.com website at the time it happened.

Edit:  I see I was typing at the same time as thatdude2, glad someone else remembered it the same way 🤘

Edited 7 hours ago by ArizonaLonghorn

[Bevo92]

Just now, ArizonaLonghorn said:

ESPN said they were dropping Arch below the other QBs because he wouldn't compete in the summer camps like Elite 11.  They said because he played at a small high school it was hard to evaluate him properly and so they were rewarding players who (in their words) "were willing to compete against their peers at a high level".  I remember specifically that Moore had a good camp and ESPN made a big deal about elevating him above Arch because of that.

I thought at the time it seemed petty and spiteful, maybe a little dumb, to downgrade a player just because he didn't go to Elite 11 camp.

Obviously they were wrong (Nelson went from USC -> Boise State -> UTEP !!!) and I'm not defending ESPN, just relating what they wrote on the espn.com website at the time it happened.

Agree.   ESPN had agenda and came off petty. 
 

Thought it was interesting last week when Bobby and Gerry talked about Arch being the only 5-star QB from 2023 who hasn’t transferred.   So many positive traits about Arch, beyond his physical gifts, that make it fun to root for him to well.   

[ArizonaLonghorn]

Digging a little on Arch's fall from # 1 to # 3 QB in ESPN rankings I found this from when he dropped to # 2 behind Malachi Nelson.  In June, when Arch committed to Texas, he was ESPN # 1 QB but in July they placed Nelson ahead of him.  Here's an article in a Louisiana site from Tom Luginbill, ESPN's national recruiting director at the time.

ESPN's Tom Luginbill explains Arch Manning's fall from top spot in recruiting rankings (free site Lafayette Daily Advertiser)

Short version - "Manning’s drop to No. 2 was about seeing more and more of the other talented quarterbacks in the 2023 class during the past several months."

Later Arch would drop to # 3 in the ESPN rankings behind Dante Moore after Moore's strong showing at the Elite 11 Finals, which Arch did not attend.

Couple of other interesting tidbits about Arch disrespect from my quick research -

"Former Rivals recruiting director Mike Farrell said if not for his last name, Manning would be a high, three-star quarterback, that he hasn’t “progressed” since his freshman year and that he hasn’t stepped up against better competition."

And when ESPN writer Adam Rittenberg released his Top 15 returning QBs for 2025 Arch was # 12 !! 

Arch Manning's Surprising Spot in ESPN's 2025 QB Rankings Sparks Debate (Athlon from free Yahoo link)

 

 

[Hashtag]

The services tried to be cute, smart, and edgy with dropping him. 

[Derek Handler]

Rivals nailed it...