The Manning name is about to show up in another football huddle, but Marshall Manning won’t be handed the keys right away.
Peyton Manning’s son is set to begin his freshman season at Baylor School in Tennessee, and according to Rivals’ Andy Villamarzo, he’ll open his high school career as the backup quarterback. Baylor head coach Erik Kimrey laid it out plainly on Villamarzo’s “Voice of High School Football Podcast”:
“Marshall Manning is our backup quarterback this year. He’ll be a freshman, so we’re excited about him,” Kimrey told Villamarzo.
That means Marshall’s first steps will come behind a quarterback with a much longer résumé. Baylor’s starter is 2027 four-star recruit and Ole Miss commit Keegan Croucher, a highly traveled prospect who is ranked No. 122 nationally and No. 10 among quarterbacks.
Croucher’s path has taken him from Fonda-Fultonville (NY) as a freshman to Cheshire Academy (CT) for his sophomore and junior seasons, then to Brentwood Academy (TN) after his junior year. Now, as the article notes, he appears set to finish his high school career at Baylor.
He’ll be stepping into a big role, too. Croucher is expected to replace Louisville signee and four-star freshman Briggs Cherry, who led Baylor to a Tennessee Division II Class AAA championship and went 24-1 in his two seasons as the starter.
Marshall Manning is unranked for now, and unlike Arch Manning - who started immediately at Isidore Newman in New Orleans - he’ll spend his first year learning instead of leading. That doesn’t make the buzz any smaller. It just means the football world will have to wait a little longer before the youngest Manning gets his shot.
In Other News...
Urban Meyer Weighs In As Arch Manning Debate Heats Up
Urban Meyer stepped into the Arch Manning conversation this week, and his point was less about the quarterback himself than the environment around him. After Texas opened the season with a loss to Ohio State, Manning drew plenty of criticism, but Meyer pushed back by stressing that quarterback play is tied closely to the talent and support around it. He pointed to the broader reality that the best seasons at the position usually come when a passer has strong teammates helping to make the offense work.
For Texas, that matters because the opener quickly became a referendum on Manning instead of a full look at what went wrong. Meyer noted that the Longhorns receivers struggled in the game, which helped shape the harsh reaction to the quarterback, and his comments served as a reminder that one player rarely carries the whole story. The debate around Manning is not going away anytime soon, but the larger question for Texas is how much of the early criticism belongs to him and how much belongs to the offense around him. [Read more 🡒]
Sean Miller Has Texas Back In The Top 10 Conversation
Sean Miller has already put Texas back into the kind of preseason conversation the program expects to occupy, and the roster-building has matched the buzz. A Sweet 16 run gave the Longhorns a springboard, and the follow-up work has been strong enough to keep them in the national picture even before a game is played, with an early SportsCenter NEXT ranking showing just how high the ceiling looks.
Jon Rothsteins preseason top 45 for 2026-27 had Texas sitting ninth, a spot that keeps the Longhorns in the upper tier of the sport and right in the mix among the SECs best. The schedule will offer an early test of whether that respect holds up, with the Rady Childrens Invitational on the front end and the SEC-ACC Challenge waiting later in the season against Louisville and Memphis. [Read more 🡒]