It’s not always about the money.
That’s what University of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said about Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning, who will be the clear-cut starter entering the 2025 season. Sarkisian understands the cash flow opportunities the team’s rising star is receiving but maintains that isn’t Manning’s top priority.
“It’s not about the money necessarily,” Sarkisian said during the Off the Edge podcast at the Sportico House on Tuesday at SXSW. “It’s about [him] wanting to be really good player and wanting to be the quarterback at Texas to bring another national championship back here. I think to him, that’s more important than any of the NIL deals, revenue-sharing or any of the other stuff that goes on.”
Manning is the nation’s highest-rated college football player with a $6.6 million valuation, according to On3. The nephew of former NFL gunslingers Eli and Peyton Manning recently signed a significant deal with energy drink giant Red Bull. Sarkisian reiterated that despite the media-driven hype around the redshirt freshman he’s doesn’t carry any pretentiousness or snobbishness in his day-to-day interactions.
“He’s just a normal guy,” Sarkisian said. “If you took the name off the back of his jersey and let him go live life, he wouldn’t have to change. He’s cares about the little people and cares about the big-name people. It doesn’t matter to him, it’s who you are as a person. That’s his approach to life.”
It’s not just Manning. That’s the ethos the head coach wants everybody in the locker room to have. The Texas One Fund, the nonprofit collective supporting UT players, has been pinpointed as one of the nation’s biggest spenders to college athletes. But Sarkisian says that he isn’t interested in adding players, even highly recruited standouts, who are solely focused on their income.
“If you’re coming here and one of your first questions when you sit down in my office is how much are you going to pay me through NIL? This isn’t the place for you. That’s not what we’re about.”
Manning is expected to take over starting duties fully after incumbent quarterback Quinn Ewers declared for the NFL Draft in January. The Louisiana native is looking to lift the Longhorns to their first national title since the 2005-06 season.
“We have a quarterback in Arch,” Sarkisian added. “We have a great leader who does things that right way … We’ll see what happens. Expectations are high in Austin.”
