Arch Manning’s 2025 season was supposed to be a victory lap. Heisman hype. NFL draft buzz. The whole package. Instead, by mid-September, he was staring at a stat line that made people wonder if the name on the jersey was doing all the heavy lifting.
After a miserable game against UTEP — 11-of-25 passing, 114 yards, one touchdown and one pick — Manning found himself in a spot he’d never really been in before. And he did what any smart young quarterback would do. He called an old legend.
“Last year, I remember after maybe the UTEP game, when I didn’t play well at all, I actually talked to Colt McCoy, which was really cool because he played at UT,” Manning told Matt Barrie on SportsCenter. “There was questions I could ask, and he had been through some of the same stuff, so that was really cool of him to reach out. We talked, we had dinner, so it was a really cool experience for me.”
McCoy knows the weight of that Texas jersey. Two-time Heisman finalist. Two-time All-American. He also knows what it’s like to have a game go sideways in front of 100,000 people. So when Manning hit a low point, McCoy didn’t just send a text. He showed up.
A reality check disguised as a win
Texas beat UTEP 27-10 that night, and Manning actually ran for two touchdowns. But the passing numbers were ugly. And after a summer of hearing his name whispered as the next great thing, the whispers turned into something else. Fraud. Overrated. Not ready.
The truth, as it usually does, lived somewhere in between. Manning is still young. Still learning. And yeah, he’s still a Manning. Which means he can pick up the phone and call his uncles Peyton and Eli whenever he wants. But there’s something different about hearing it from a guy who actually did it in Austin.
McCoy gave him perspective. Probably told him the same thing every quarterback who’s ever struggled needs to hear: you’re still the same player. Don’t chase the noise.
The bounce-back
Manning didn’t exactly turn into a Heisman winner after that dinner. But he got better. By the end of the season, he’d completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns. He added 399 yards and 10 more scores on the ground. Not vintage Peyton numbers, but solid. Especially for a guy who was supposedly washed six weeks into the year.
Now Manning is heading into 2026 as a redshirt junior with something he didn’t have before — proof he can take a hit and keep going. The Longhorns have national title aspirations again. And Colt McCoy will be watching, same as everybody else.
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