Arch Manning takes official visit to Virginia | College Football Enquirer

Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss 2023 5-star QB recruit Arch Manning’s surprising official visit to Virginia, and debate if UVA has a real shot to land the nation’s top recruit.

Video Transcript

DAN WETZEL: One interesting recruiting note in our endless updates of Arch Manning's recruitment.

PAT FORDE: Yes.

DAN WETZEL: He visited Virginia--

PAT FORDE: Ooh.

DAN WETZEL: --last weekend. Tony Elliott, the new coach at Virginia. He was the offensive coordinator at Clemson. I've been wondering about this. Because I think we had this discussion on who's known as the QB coach. And you know, like Ryan Day's getting the hype for that. Lincoln Riley. You know, we've lamented a million times, how the hell is Harbaugh not getting all the quarterbacks. I don't know, you know.

But Tony Elliott coached Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, among others. Now you have no track record of whether Tony Elliott, is now the coach of Virginia, can be a great coach. We don't know. Because he hasn't coached a game. But they did get a full visit.

Now they got-- it wasn't just Arch. It was Cooper, and his wife went on the trip too. Virginia is elite academics. Beautiful place. The Mannings like being in control.

PAT FORDE: Yeah. Right.

DAN WETZEL: OK? They like being in control. They are not going into this-- they are not just sitting there going, oh, this school offered me 50 grand more, but they got, look at the depth, I didn't see the depth chart. Like they will-- they're very smart. OK? I mean, Archie Manning rigged the NFL draft to get Eli Manning out of San Diego and to the Giants. So they want to be in control. Peyton has always been in control. This is the family. They're in control.

Does Virginia-- like what kind of chance is this? Obviously, this is a big swing. But if he goes to Virginia, he's almost sure to be the starter. He's not going to have to fight over what we're talking about if it's Texas or Alabama. And it's like a whole fresh start, where he doesn't even to have to deal with like all the angry SEC fan bases.

Thoughts, Pat?

PAT FORDE: Oh, it's fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. Because it is a total outlier and one that we would never have considered, really, you know. So yeah, Tony Elliot, look, an impressive guy. I'm sure he is phenomenal when you sit down with him as a recruit. And he has a great track record as an assistant. As you said, the vast unknown is what's he like as a head coach. But he's worked with some great quarterbacks, two star guys.

And it's a neutral sort of thing. As you said, it would totally take the heat out of the potential SEC squabbling of going here, going there. And even if Texas kind of looked like that, but Texas is eventually joining the SEC, depending- and I mean, if Arch is still in school, he'd have to probably go play either at Ole Miss or at Tennessee or at LSU or somewhere where the fans thought they were going to get him.

It is a great place to go to school. And my daughter did one at Virginia. And I mean, they put on the dog there. They do a very nice job with these sort of things. They've got a lot to show off.

DAN WETZEL: Incredible campus.

PAT FORDE: Oh, it's awesome.

DAN WETZEL: I mean, if you're into campuses, that's one of the best going.

PAT FORDE: Gorgeous. And you know, it's like old Southern tradition, which is kind of Manning-esque, you know. I mean, they don't call it the campus, they call it the grounds. And if you live in the lawn area, because you're a fourth year-- you're not a senior, you're a fourth year, and those are those really, they're ancient little dorms, but they're super highly sought.

So there's just, yeah, there's a lot of pomp and circumstance and tradition and stuff that goes with Virginia that's very cool. None of it is football. That's the thing. None of it is football. But it doesn't have to always stay that way.

DAN WETZEL: Maybe he wants the education. I don't know. Or maybe they're like, look, this kid's good enough. We know how good he is. It doesn't matter.

PAT FORDE: Right.

DAN WETZEL: Like, the thing about the Mannings that I find fascinating is they know how good he is. They don't just know like, well, we've had two guys in the-- three guys in the family playing NFL quarterback, two of whom won multiple Super Bowls. We also run the Manning Passing Academy.

PAT FORDE: Right. We see all the best quarterbacks.

DAN WETZEL: We've seen every quarterback in the last 20 years. We know how good he is. So they may be like, look, man, it's all good. Go up here. Coach Elliott's a good coach. We're not that concerned about-- you know, maybe that's the motivation isn't, I gotta win a national title or I gotta-- you control the process. Boom, three years later. You have a great time and you're the number one pick in the draft.