Arch Manning is back on a familiar preseason stage, and this one carries a little family history with it.
The Texas quarterback landed on the Maxwell Award preseason watchlist, putting him among the early candidates for the honor given each year to the college football player judged by the media, head coaches and the Maxwell Football Club to be the sport’s greatest all-around athlete. Texas wide receiver Cam Coleman was also listed.
For Manning, the award comes with a built-in storyline. If he were to win it, he would be following a path already walked by two of the biggest names in his family. His grandfather and namesake, Archie Manning, did not win the Maxwell Award, but Peyton Manning captured it in 1997 during his final season at Tennessee, and Eli Manning followed in 2003 during his final year at Ole Miss.
A Maxwell win would also put Arch Manning in select company at Texas. He would become the fifth Longhorn to claim the trophy, joining Tommy Nobis in 1965, Ricky Williams in 1998, Vince Young in 2005 and Colt McCoy in 2009.
The preseason list includes 81 players, a group already viewed as the best of the best entering the year. Last season, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza won the 2025 Maxwell Award before leading his team to its National Championship victory.
Manning, meanwhile, is still early in his run as Texas’s starter. He has not yet picked up an end-of-season award, but his growth last season gave the Longhorns reason to believe there’s more coming. He finished the year by earning MVP honors in Texas’s Citrus Bowl win over Michigan, and he enters this season as the second-favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.
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Bijan Robinson Just Gave Texas A Massive Recruiting Win
Bijan Robinsons rise in Atlanta has become the kind of exclamation point Texas can point to on the recruiting trail. The former Longhorns star just signed a three-year extension with the Falcons that can reach $75 million, with a reported $51 million guaranteed, a deal that underscores how quickly he has gone from college centerpiece to one of the NFLs highest-paid backs. Add in the fact that he led the league in scrimmage yards in 2025 and earned his first All-Pro nod, and its easy to see why his pro path carries so much weight back in Austin.
For Texas, the appeal is bigger than one contract or one standout season. Robinsons success reinforces a broader message about what the program can produce, and it comes at a time when Atlanta has committed major resources to him and other skill players as part of its offensive future. Recruits notice that kind of investment, especially when its attached to a player who already entered league conversations as a position-setter, and Texas can sell that track record without needing to say much at all. [Read more 🡒]
Bijan Robinson Just Gave Texas Fans Another Reason To Brag
Bijan Robinson keeps stacking reasons for Texas fans to feel like they watched something special before the rest of the football world fully caught up. The former Longhorn and current Atlanta Falcons star has signed a three-year contract extension reportedly worth up to $75 million, a deal that makes him the highest-paid running back in NFL history and comes with $51 million guaranteed. It is the latest marker of how far his game has traveled since his college days, when his blend of balance, burst and open-field control already looked different from everyone elses.
Robinsons rise has now been validated in more than one lane, too, with Madden NFL 27 giving him a 95 overall rating and putting him among the leagues premier offensive players. For Texas, it is another neat line in a growing professional rsum that keeps reflecting back on the programs recruiting pitch and developmental reputation. The interesting part now is less about whether Robinson belongs in that elite company and more about how long he can keep pushing the standard for what a running back is worth. [Read more 🡒]