Is There A More Disappointing QB Battle Than Arch Manning Vs. DJ Lagway?
Remember when these two were Heisman favorites?
Think back to where we were as a collective college football fanbase.
Who were some of the most hyped quarterbacks in the country heading into the 2025 season?
Almost every single list had some combination of Cade Klubnik, Drew Allar, Arch Manning, Lanorris Sellers, and DJ Lagway.
All five of those signal callers have been massive disappointments, but this weekend is the first time two of those five are set to go against one another in a head-to-head matchup.
When Texas comes out of the tunnel in The Swamp against the Florida Gators at 3:30 this afternoon, two of the highest paid yet most disappointing quarterbacks will take the field in a game that lost a ton of luster since the season kicked off over a month ago.
For Manning, this season was supposed to be a coronation for the next in line of a family of football royalty, though it's been anything but.
The Longhorns' gunslinger hasn't been terrible, and his team is still in the driver's seat to make the SEC Championship Game and the Playoffs, but he has hardly lived up to the lofty expectations placed upon him.
Some of those expectations were based on his five-star rating out of high school, but the bulk of them are thanks to his last name.
If Manning can put the expectations on the back burner and just go "play ball," he should be fine.
Lagway is a much tougher case to crack, on the other hand.
The Gators' sophomore came into the season with a body of work that spanned nearly half a season, and his uncanny abilities as a freshman opened plenty of eyes heading into this season.
His fall from grace has been more precipitous than Manning's, and makes even less sense given how many live reps against legit competition he's had in comparison to Manning.
One of these QBs has to win, and if I were a betting man, I would put my money on Manning.
He's been significantly less horrific than Lagway so far this season and, more importantly, has a much better offensive coaching staff on his side.
But this game today should be a stark reminder that preseason hype doesn't always equate to future success.
It also doesn't mean this is the death of either of these young men's careers.
Lagway and Manning are both sophomores with plenty of football left in their futures.
They could develop into great players, but with the advent of NIL, it shrinks the window of patience for fans and boosters alike.
We exist in an instant gratification society these days, and that may have claimed the careers of two former five-stars with potential that may never be realized.