When quarterback Arch Manning first started receiving attention as a young recruit, many Tennessee Vols fans thought there was a decent chance he could end up following in his uncle Peyton’s footsteps and playing college football on Rocky Top.

Arch, however, never seemed seriously interested in Tennessee.

And Tennessee, likewise, never seemed seriously interested in Tennessee.

A new book from Seth Wickersham — American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback due out on September 9 — seems to confirm that Arch never had any interest in Tennessee, despite Peyton playing a key role in his development.

ESPN published an excerpt from the book on Friday, which details how Peyton would speak to Arch’s high school coach — Nelson Stewart at Isidore Newman in New Orleans — about play-calling after games. Peyton also helped put together private tape of Tom Brady’s practices to help Arch’s development.

“Peyton would sometimes hop on the phone with Stewart after [Arch’s] games, going through play-calling, and then would follow up a day later wondering if the school needed any donations,” wrote Seth Wickersham.

From ESPN: “Arch and Cooper flew from New Orleans to Denver, where Uncle Peyton lived. They worked out at the Broncos facility. Peyton also got Clyde Christensen, a longtime NFL offensive coach who’d worked with him in Indianapolis and Tom Brady in Tampa Bay, to send private videos of Brady’s practices, melding the best of Manning’s theories with Brady’s techniques, two legends funneling into a boy. Peyton texted them to Stewart, telling him to run those drills. There were dozens of video clips.“

The book also details Arch’s recruiting visits. And none of the visits were to Tennessee.

“Arch visited Clemson twice, Alabama four times, Georgia four times, Texas four times, Ole Miss a few times, LSU, and even Virginia,” wrote Wickersham.

There are plenty of references to Peyton in Wickersham’s very detailed story of Arch’s recruitment, but there’s not a single mention of Tennessee or Josh Heupel (the Vols did offer Arch in early 2021, but things never progressed from there).

Arch is poised to be one of the top quarterbacks in the nation in 2025. In retrospect, the Vols would have been wise to aggressively pursue Arch instead of Nico Iamaleava during the 2023 recruiting cycle.

Texas Longhorns News

‘You could come here and be a normal guy’ – Cooper Manning initially preferred a school other than Texas for Arch Manning

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning’s recruiting experience was unique. Despite being the most famous high school player in the nation, Arch’s recruitment was remarkably quiet. The Manning family did its best to let Arch experience life as a “normal” high school student. It was a tall task, but the mission was mostly accomplished — rumors […]

Zach Ragan