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TAMPA, Fla. - In 2024 and 2025, new Florida coach Jon Sumrall served as the head coach at Tulane University, which is just a few trolley stops away in New Orleans from the home of Texas football quarterback Arch Manning.
That means Sumrall would occasionally get a message from New Orleans icon and Arch's grandfather, Archie, who wondered if his grandson could work out at the Tulane facilities.
Arch, man, what a great young man.
"Archie would shoot me a text or a phone call and say, 'Hey, is it OK in May in some downtime if Arch comes over and throws?' " Sumrall said Wednesday at SEC Media Days. "I'm like, 'Yeah, and ask him if he wants to transfer,' because he wasn't a starter yet."
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Sumrall was joking, of course. And the story drew laughs from the gathered media. Sumrall knew that Manning chose Texas and the SEC - still the biggest stage in college football - for a reason. The conference remains the best breeding ground for NFL players in the country, even if the Big Ten has won the past three national championships, and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and his program offered Manning what the top recruit in the nation craved coming out of Isidore Newman School in New Orleans in 2023.
Manning showed his development in his first season as a starter in 2025, when he threw for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns and added 399 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. No returning SEC quarterback enters this season with as much production, which doesn't surprise Sumrall.
"I really have a lot of respect for the Manning family as a whole," Sumrall said. "And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree with Arch in that respect. Arch, man, what a great young man. I'd go out there (at Tulane) and might watch him throw with (father) Cooper or whoever might be out there and I'd be like, 'I would like to coach that guy.' "
Sumrall and his Gators will try and slow Manning when Florida meets Texas for the third straight season Oct. 17 at Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin.
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