Golden: Arch Manning would be the biggest quarterback landing at Texas since Vince Young
Arch Manning is in play.
Dare you dream, Longhorn Nation?
Does Peyton Manning do commercials? Of course you dream. Arch could be the savior that turns this whole thing around.
The progeny of the first family of NFL quarterbacks is coming back to Austin to visit the UT campus for the second time since last season. On Saturday, 247Sports reported that Peyton and Eli’s nephew is making official visits to Georgia and Alabama in the first couple of weeks of June and will come to Austin June 18.
More: Texas now laser-focused on Arch Manning, showing just how ‘delicate’ QB recruiting can be
It goes without saying that the Isidore Newman (La.) five-star recruit would be welcome on any college campus in the country, but the fact that he is visiting the Longhorns early in the process should have folks around here excited. If anything, Texas is on the radar.
The Mannings are an SEC family. Pop-Pop Archie, dad Cooper and uncle Eli all played at Ole Miss while Peyton played at Tennessee. He has been spotted in the stands at Georgia games with his dad sporting Bulldogs gear and is obviously familiar with old family haunts in Oxford and down the street in Baton Rouge. Either way, to have him visiting a Big 12 school means he must either be really serious about the Longhorns or he loves hanging out on 6th.
Giving the Horns a look could come down to several factors. Texas could be playing in the SEC as early as 2023, which would mean Arch would play at least half of his conference games in familiar settings.
He told on3.com that it’s important for him to have maintained relationships with Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and assistant coach A.J. Milwee during the recruiting process. Arch famously took a FaceTime call from Sarkisian at a local arcade last July while babysitting two kids. He wasn’t even playing video games. He was on the clock that day but still picked up when Sark called.
He also likened the ATX to his hometown.
"Austin is a big city compared to (Athens and Tuscaloosa)," he said. "So it reminds me a little bit of New Orleans. It’s a little weird, and they’ve got good coaches there.”
Manning said he would like to make his decision before his senior season starts, which has become the norm with the early national signing day in December taking on added importance over the last few years.
To get him here would be the biggest quarterback landing since Mack Brown brought in Vince Young in 2001.
More: Golden: The Nick Saban-Jimbo Fisher blood feud reveals new truths about today's recruiting
About that weird thing … hey Arch, if you head this way in 2023, you will have no problems finding weird in our city.
Just call us the Little Easy.
Texas women's tennis team a dynasty
Coach Howard Joffe just secured a second straight national championship and that tower just got lit for the second consecutive season.
What can be sweeter than winning back-to-back titles? How about blowing out Oklahoma, 4-1, in the championship match? Even better.
The reigning queens of women’s tennis — especially Sabina Zeynalova who won 23 of 24 singles matches and played with a heavy heart because of concern for family and friends in her native Ukraine — just sent notice on campus that we’re in the midst of a burgeoning dynasty.
Is Texas baseball College Station bound?
If the Texas Longhorns can’t play at home, keep them within driving distance.
College Station, anyone?
We’re all subconsciously counting down the days, months and maybe the years until Texas and Oklahoma leave the Big 12 for the SEC, but there’s no time like the present for the Longhorns to dip their postseason toe into that other pool.
More: Skyler Messinger's grand slam leads Texas to a wild win with Big 12 Tournament on deck
Before we get to the potential showdown, let’s be clear. Our summers in Austin are much more fun when Disch-Falk Field is part of the NCAA Tournament. It’s on the short list of best game-day experiences in the country, from the great grub down the third-base line to the buzz throughout the stadium to the ultra loyal Occupy Left Field fans.
A home regional can still happen. The No. 22 Longhorns are still in play for one of the 16 regional bids after sweeping last-place Kansas but will probably have to win the Big 12 Tournament to curry more favor with the selection committee. That starts with a win over Oklahoma State after breakfast Wednesday.
The standings aren’t in Texas’ favor and the committee isn’t really interested in having to explain to the country how it awarded a home bid to the Big 12’s fifth-place team.
So if we’re speaking realistically, outside of a Big 12 tourney win, the Horns could be SEC bound in a couple of weeks, as in possible trips to Texas A&M, Arkansas or LSU.
D1Baseball.com has them projected as a No. 2 seed heading to College Station for the first round. Anyone ready to see the Longhorns and Aggies knock heads at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park? That’s a matchup sweeter than three pints of homemade vanilla with chocolate sprinkles.
Now we all understand the Texas bullpen is the runaway pick for the biggest weakness on this team, but I just don’t see any No. 1 seed’s fan base getting excited about having to face an offense that has 110 homers, a .322 team batting average and two hot starters in Pete Hansen and Lucas Gordon.
College legend Augie Garrido always told his teams to “control the controllables,” which meant to simply take care of one’s own business and let the rest take care of itself. The Horns can't really control the committee's decision, but they can keep swinging big lumber.
While another weekend of home games is unlikely at this point, coach David Pierce has to be feeling good about an 8-1 record since that brutal home sweep at the hands of Oklahoma State.
Ivan Melendez is the player of the year
If the Horns are indeed finished at Disch-Falk Field, it’s unfortunate the home fans didn’t get to see Ivan Melendez establish a new single-season home run record. He tied Kyle Russell with his 28th in the opener Thursday but didn’t go yard in the final two regular-season games at the Disch.
With that said, we just got the honor of watching the best player in college baseball put up arguably the greatest offensive regular season in Longhorn history.
Texas legend Keith Moreland told me last week that Melendez is the best right-handed hitter in school history and that carries a bit of weight considering Zonk hit .388 from the right side in leading Texas to three College World Series appearances and a national title in 1975. Coming from someone of his caliber, those words carry a bit of weight.
More: Golden: Texas legend Keith Moreland is thankful for a second chance after heart surgery
“He’s unbelievable,” Moreland said. “He hits with power all over the park. He isn’t one-dimensional up there. If you make a mistake on the outer part, he can take it out of the yard to the opposite field. He’s the best I’ve seen here for a right handed-hitter.”
If Melendez doesn't win the national player of the year award — he would be the first to do so since Kody Clemens earned the ABCA award in 2018 — we might have to file an informal protest.
The man nicknamed the The Hispanic Titanic has iceberged the competition in a cold-blooded season-long hitting display that has him oh so close to winning the triple crown.
He’s two homers ahead of Georgia Tech’s Kevin Parada and Clemson’s Max Wagner and his .421 batting average is right behind Georgia Tech’s Chandler Simpson (.422) who has 29 fewer at bats. He’s only four RBIs behind Sam Houston State’s Carlos Contreras and leads the country in slugging percentage (.941).
If he isn’t the best player in the country, I don’t like Mexican food and the folks at Matt’s El Rancho know nothing about queso dip.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: New Orleans quarterback star Arch Manning will visit Texas on June 18
