Kirby Smart reveals details on Arch Manning recruitment and progression ahead of Georgia Bulldogs face off with Texas Longhorns
Kirby Smart clearly respects Arch Manning’s progression and understands the threat Georgia faces now
Kirby Smart isn’t one to shy away from talking up his competition, but in many cases he’s not lying, just merely opening up and telling the truth. This week was no different when he spoke with the media about Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns.
Many in the media had questions on the young supposed phenom quarterback. Kirby surprisingly opened up not just on how difficult the matchup is going to be this week, but also on his personal recruitment of Arch and the progression he’s seen against a full slate of SEC competition for the first-year Texas starter.
Georgia Bulldogs key stats against Texas Longhorns
- Georgia Bulldogs racked up 13 total sacks in the two times they faced the Texas Longhorns in 2024, but only have 11 on the entire season this year
- Arch Manning managed just 18 total yards on his 10 individual plays of passing and running against Georgia last season in limited action
- Georgia’s defense has finally found their footing as they racked up three sacks against Mississippi State and have allowed just 4.5 yards per play on defense in four of their last five contests (excluding the Ole Miss game)
- After averaging barely 200 passing yards per game, less than two touchdowns per game, and 7.6 yards per attempt through Texas’ first seven contests this season, Arch Manning tossed six scores, nearly 700 yards, and averaged over 8.5 yards per attempt against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt
Kirby Smart opens up on Arch Manning recruitment and development
It can be easy to forget that this is still just Arch Manning’s first year as a full-time starter for the Texas Longhorns given that hype has been building towards this since before the 2020 pandemic season when he was still early on in his high school football career. However, it’s clear that Kirby Smart hasn’t forgotten that. He made it a point to mention how well Arch has handled all the external nonsense, and shared exactly why he was once a finalist to pull Manning as a recruit:
“Yeah, [recruiting him] really wasn’t about the celebrity nature [of Arch Manning] or the last name. It was about the tape. I have a good relationship with their family. I’ve known his dad for a while, his uncle for a long time, and his grandfather. They’ve got a wonderful family, but it had nothing to do with his recruitment. His recruitment was based on [the fact that] he’s athletic, he’s fast, he’s tall, he’s intelligent, and he’s got composure. He’s got the arm. He can do it all. He can run the ball. He can throw the ball. In this day and age, you have got to have a quarterback that can do both…He’s not really effected by many things. Even the way he’s managed the hype and expectations of what he was supposed to be this year. None of that was him. He didn’t call any of that to come to him. It’s just what the outside sources did. It doesn’t seem to have effected him. He knows he’s got to grow and get better. And I think [Steve Sarkisian] has done a great job bringing him up and allowing him to develop and get better.”
Kirby Smart clearly has a lot of respect for the young Manning at quarterback. Throughout his comments on Arch it did seem like he recognized that the Texas QB had fallen short of national expectations, but that he had been building confidence, getting better throughout the SEC portion of the Longhorns’ schedule (as you can see in full via the post below).
Arch Manning has gone from averaging just 4.6 yards per pass attempt against UTEP in week three to posting back to back 300+ yards passing and three touchdowns against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt in his last two games. He’s a completely different player than the one that national media spent weeks dunking on for falling short of their own expectations – not Arch Manning’s for himself.
Last season, Georgia’s pass rush proved to be extremely intimidating throughout the limited snaps that Arch Manning played against the Bulldogs. This year’s Georgia pass rush has been one of the worst in the nation, although they’re finding themselves lately (three sacks against Mississippi State). If Kirby Smart’s defense can’t generate consistent pressure against a developing Arch Manning that is beginning to play like his name suggests, then Georgia might actually lose this weekend, putting the pressure on to win out.
We’ll be back with more Georgia Bulldogs coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
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