Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who transferred to UCLA earlier this offseason, and Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning will forever have a unique connection. 

Iamaleava and Manning were the two highest rated quarterbacks (per 247Sports) in the 2023 recruiting class. 

The two quarterbacks, though, have had different experiences so far in college. 

Iamaleava took over as the starting quarterback at Tennessee as a redshirt freshman in 2024 (and he led the Volunteers to an appearance in the College Football Playoff).

Manning, meanwhile, sat on the bench for his first two seasons at Texas (except for two spot starts last season). The New Orleans native is set to take over as the Longhorns' starting quarterback this fall. 

Expectations are high for Manning in 2025 thanks to his famous last name, along with the elite upside he showed during his two starts in 2024. 

Former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Aaron Murray, however, isn't sold on Manning being a star in 2025. 

Murray thinks the fact that Manning didn't start over Quinn Ewers last season is a red flag. 

(Ewers wasn't selected until the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft.)

“If you are so good and everyone has you projected number one pick in the NFL Draft, come 2026, why in the hell are you not playing above a seventh-round quarterback?” said Murray recently on Sirius XM Radio’s SEC This Morning podcast. “If Steve Sarkisian knows what he’s doing and he knows how good their roster is, which I’ve talked to a lot of coaches and a lot of different teams, and I asked them what are the top rosters? Ohio, State, Texas, and probably Georgia. What was holding them back? Quinn Ewers. Why was Arch not playing? That rubs me the wrong way a little bit.”

Iamaleava dealt with similar questions last season (and even into this offseason) due to the fact that he sat behind Joe Milton, a sixth round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, as a true freshman in 2023. 

Tennessee's offense struggled with Milton under center in 2023 (31.8 points per game, the Vols' worst offensive scoring average of the Josh Heupel era), but Iamaleava was never considered as an option to start during the regular season. 

Some fans and media took that as a sign that Iamaleava wasn't living up to the hype. 

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I think both takes are absolute nonsense. 

One of the biggest problems with quarterback development these days is players getting thrown into starting roles before they're ready. Just because a player is extremely talented doesn't always mean they should be starting right away. Experience matters. It's a big jump from high school to the SEC (and a big jump from the SEC to the NFL). Players need time to find their footing (that time is different for every player, too). 

Iamaleava and Manning are going to have every play and decision they make overly scrutinized due to being high profile players. Which is unfortunate because neither player is going to be perfect. Mistakes will be made — there will be hot streaks and slumps. As is always the case in competitive sports, there will be highs and lows. But Iamaleava and Manning deserve to be treated just like every other athlete. While they've both benefitted from the hype surrounding them, that's something they have no control over. And neither player should be judged based on how they perform compared to the hype. 

Not many folks understand what it's like to be a five-star quarterback in the NIL era. It comes with a level of pressure we've never seen before in college sports. 

That's why it's past time that everyone quits looking for any reason possible to be negative about highly touted players.

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