Marshall Manning will sit out Friday night’s game when Baylor School heads to Georgia to play Rabun Gap-Nacoochee, and he reportedly won’t even make the trip. The freshman quarterback and son of Peyton Manning is expected to miss a few weeks with a foot injury, putting a pause on one of the most closely watched freshman seasons in recent memory.
That leaves Baylor with plenty to play for, even without the name that has dominated so much of the conversation. The Red Raiders already have a proven quarterback in Keegan Croucher, a four-star senior committed to Ole Miss, so this was never a situation built around Manning needing to save the day. Friday gives Croucher the spotlight against a Rabun Gap defense that should provide a real test.
Baylor’s offense also has another dangerous piece in running back David Gabriel Georges, giving the Red Raiders multiple ways to attack. And while the Manning buzz has been impossible to ignore, there are still plenty of other players worth watching when the ball kicks off.
The matchup itself carries real weight, too. Baylor is the defending Tennessee Division II-AAA state champion and one of the more nationally respected programs around. Rabun Gap has emerged as one of Georgia’s most intriguing teams, and this game offers another chance for Baylor to prove itself beyond Tennessee.
For those keeping score on Manning’s recovery, the timeline has been described as a few weeks. That means each Baylor game now comes with the same question attached: “Is this the one where Marshall comes back?”
Not yet. For now, Friday belongs to Croucher, Georges, Rabun Gap and a game that still deserves attention on its own terms.
In Other News...
Georgia Fans Already Divided Over Another Sanford Stadium Gimmick
Georgia football is leaning into the kind of game-day presentation that can turn Sanford Stadium into a visual talking point before the first snap. The program announced it is asking fans to take part in a stadium striping event for the week four matchup against Oklahoma, a look it used last season, and it is also planning a white-out for the week two game against Western Kentucky. For a fan base that treats home-field atmosphere as part of the product, the message is clear: the Bulldogs want the stands to look as loud as they feel.
The response, as usual with these kinds of promos, has already split the room. Some fans like the coordinated look and the way it can make Sanford Stadium pop on television, while others see it as one more unnecessary gimmick layered onto an already big Saturday. With Oklahoma coming to town in week four, the striping idea is getting extra attention, and it will be worth watching whether the latest attempt at a themed crowd brings more buy-in the second time around. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Suddenly Has A Chance To Unlock A Former 5-Star Up Front
Xzavier McLeods retirement at the start of fall camp for the 2026 season changed the look of Georgias interior defensive line almost overnight. What had been a steady part of the rotation now has to be replaced by committee, and Kirby Smart has already signaled that the Bulldogs will sort out the snaps through competition rather than hand the job to one player.
That opens the door for Jordan Hall, a junior whose career has been slowed by injury issues, and for sophomore Elijah Griffin, whose talent gives Georgia a chance to get more out of the position group than it may have expected a few weeks ago. How much of that upside turns into actual production will depend on who can stay on the field and who can take advantage of the extra work now available up front. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Fans Have Every Reason To Push Back On Jeff Brohm
The scheduled home-and-home series between Georgia and Louisville is off, and both schools reportedly agreed to cancel it as the SECs move to nine conference games continues to reshape future slates. From Georgias side, the explanation appears tied to the growing difficulty of fitting everything in around an expanded conference schedule, a problem that has forced plenty of moving parts behind the scenes for athletic departments trying to balance competition, travel and long-term planning.
Jeff Brohm, though, offered a different version of events when he suggested Georgia was the side responsible for pulling the plug. That is where the frustration can linger for Bulldogs fans, especially with Louisville also known to have had its own trouble lining up Power Four opponents. The series is gone either way, but the debate over why it disappeared has left enough room for both schools to point in different directions. [Read more 🡒]