Steve Sarkisian went ‘all in’ to recruit Arch Manning to Texas

Steve Sarkisian went “all-in” to land Arch Manning.

That’s according to Nelson Stewart, Manning’s coach at Isidore Newman in New Orleans, where the quarterback is a rising senior. Earlier this week, Manning announced he’ll be taking his game to Texas.

“I think this is where he belongs,” Stewart told the Austin American-Statesman.

Stewart credited Sarkisian, who became coach at Texas in early 2021, with maintaining frequent communication over the past couple years, and quarterback coach AJ Milwee for forming a robust relationship with the quarterback.

“Certainly, his recruitment has been like no other,” Stewart said. “For the past, feels like seven years, this has been a second job. But he is a wonderful young man that just does things the right way, he’s a great teammate,” Stewart said. “It’s crazy the first Zoom that I went on during the pandemic was Sark. AJ was setting up the computer and it was like, ‘Hey, how you guys doing?’ There they are!

“Sark, he went all-in,” he continued. “And I know a lot of people said that was crazy, but I just had a good feeling. I talked to AJ Milwee more in the past two years than my wife.”

Arch Manning is the son of Cooper, nephew of Eli and Peyton and grandson of Archie. He has a strong, accurate arm, as well as an attribute not quite possessed by his famous uncles: mobility.

Every football coach in America would have walked from where they live to Cafe du Monde to land the young Manning, but Texas beat out Alabama, Georgia and a few other primary contenders in the end.

Texas and Oklahoma are moving from the Big 12 to the SEC in 2025, when Manning will be a junior.

Manning has not spoken publicly about his rationale for his decision; his only communication on the matter was his announcement on social media. He joined Twitter in February, but Thursday’s post is the only tweet he’s ever sent.

It’s hard to believe NIL rights were not a factor in the decision. Coaches are not supposed to directly coordinate endorsement money, but there is a lot of affluence in the Texas fanbase between alumni and other supporters.

The reality is Manning could have made a mint wherever he went, but from the outside Texas would seem to have the capacity to produce the biggest NIL deals in the aggregate.