Anytime a young quarterback has the chance to ask Tennessee Vols legend and Hall of Famer Peyton Manning for advice, he should probably take advantage of the opportunity.

He should also listen to the advice that Manning has to offer.

Titans quarterback Will Levis nailed the first part — he asked Manning for a key piece of advice at the Manning Passing Academy a few years ago — but he failed to actually apply the advice that he received.

Will Levis did the exact opposite of what Peyton Manning told him to do

Levis, who was working as a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy at the time, asked Manning for advice about maximizing marketing opportunities.

The two-time Super Bowl winner told Levis to make football the top priority.

Manning has been in more commercials than probably any quarterback in history, but that wasn’t his focus as a young player when he was selected by the Colts with the No. 1 pick in 1998.

Levis: “What advice do you have on the marketing side, maximizing those opportunities while at the same time maintaining the notion that your mind is in the right place as a quarterback?”

Manning: “I’ve done my share of commercials, now,” Peyton answered. “But there’s a time and a place for it, but let’s make the football priority number one. Don’t give anybody a chance to say ‘I wasn’t all in on football.’”

That advice apparently went in one ear and straight out of the other.

Levis, who played so poorly in 2024 that the Titans selected quarterback Cam Ward with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, launched a national mayonnaise commercial two summers ago.

And that’s not all.

The former Kentucky quarterback still has aspirations of being a starting quarterback in the NFL, but he’s also decided to be part of a new media platform called NIL TV.

Levis is one of the “Founding Five” former student-athletes that’s involved with the new media platform, which says its “ultimate vision is to create our own original movies and have a streaming app just like the ones you use every week – where all of the actors are the college athletes you know and love.”

I’m not hating on the idea. Maybe it works. We’ll see. But is this what Levis should be focused on when he’s barely hanging on to a roster spot with the Titans?

Peyton told Levis to focus on football so he wouldn’t give anyone the chance to say he wasn’t all-in on football.

It was great advice. Too bad Levis thought he was smarter than the Hall of Famer.