Marshall Manning’s second appearance of the season as Baylor’s quarterback was short, but it gave a clearer look at how the son of Peyton Manning is handling the job.
The freshman got his first extended run Friday night in Baylor Red Raiders’ 45-17 win over the Montgomery Bell Academy Big Red, and he made the most of a late-game opportunity that came with the result already decided. Baylor had a 45-10 lead and a running clock when Manning entered in the fourth quarter after MBA’s first touchdown.
Baylor kept things simple for him, leaning on short throws and easy completions meant to settle him in. Manning delivered.
On his first snap from the Baylor 20, he hit Bernardo Diaz on the left sideline for a 10-yard gain and a first down. On the next play, he was forced right before finding freshman Jayden Cauvier for a 17-yard gain to the Baylor 47.
He then handed off for a 3-yard gain before connecting with Cauvier again on the left sideline for 9 more yards and another first down. That stretch extended a tidy start to his high school career: dating back to the Brentwood Academy game, Manning’s first four pass attempts as a high school quarterback were all completions that moved the chains.
The sequence slowed after that. A handoff from the MBA 40 went for a 1-yard loss, then an illegal procedure penalty set up another run that gained just a yard. On fourth-and-long, Manning closed his night with a 6-yard completion over the middle to Wyatt Provonsha, but the play left Baylor short of the marker and the Red Raiders turned it over on downs.
Even in a brief outing, Manning looked composed. He finished 4-of-4 for 42 yards Friday and was steady on the one snap where he had to improvise under pressure.
This was only his second appearance of the season. He made his high school quarterback debut Aug. 20 in Baylor’s 38-20 win over Brentwood Academy, when he played two snaps. On that first play, he completed a 6-yard pass before handing off on the next snap and quickly ceding the huddle back to Baylor’s current four-star senior quarterback, Keegan Croucher.
Through two appearances, Manning is now 5-of-5 for 48 yards in his first season as a high school quarterback.
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