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ESPN reporter says Arch Manning hype at Texas will be ‘Tim Tebow-level hysteria’
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ESPN’s Marty Smith did an interview with Arch Manning this week, and then he told fellow ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum something that raised eyebrows.
Smith said that the Texas quarterback, who will finally get his shot as the starting quarterback in 2025, will generate hype that’s only reserved for the chosen few. Smith invoked the name Tim Tebow, who carried a special kind of aura when he played at Florida a little under 2 decades ago.
“It’s gonna be Tim Tebow-level hysteria this fall when we go to Austin, Texas, when he is behind center full-time for the first time,” Smith told Finebaum while also declaring that Manning will be college football’s next superstar. “It’s going to be like it was with Tebow at Florida. Everywhere they go, they’re going to be rock stars. And that is what I anticipate, and I think that is what we’re going to see.”
Manning will be trying to forge his own college football legacy, the same kind that his grandfather, Archie, and uncles Peyton and Eli did. He’ll finally have a chance to do just that after sitting behind Quinn Ewers at Texas for the past 2 seasons.
And Smith believes the hype train is just getting started and will reach a fever pitch by fall.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
