Peyton Manning's nephew Arch Manning commits to Texas. 'He's a little better than Peyton'

INDIANAPOLIS -- Not so long ago, Arch Manning was a freshman in high school starting for his varsity team at Isidore Newman in New Orleans where the scouts were already coming to watch. And Arch, with a rocket arm and an uncanny view of the field, was seemingly golden.

Not so long ago, his grandfather Archie Manning, father of NFL greats Peyton and Eli Manning, was at those games. And he made a comparison.

"He seems to be a little better than Peyton or Eli," Archie told IndyStar in 2019.

The college football world and the NFL -- who will surely be watching -- will soon get to see how good the 6-4, 215-pound quarterback bred from football royalty is.

Arch, the top-ranked college quarterback prospect, said Thursday that he has verbally committed to Texas. The announcement "ended one of the most highly watched and hotly contested recruitments in recent college football history," Paul Meyerberg wrote in USA Today.

"Committed to the University of Texas," Arch said in the first post to his Twitter account, where he follows not one person and 46,300 follow him.

The post received 184,000 likes and 34,800 retweets.

Arch's uncles and his father, Cooper, starred at Isidore Newman; Cooper was a highly recruited wide receiver before a spinal injury ended his playing career.

The comparisons between Arch and his uncles and just how he will measure up have been popular fodder in sports media throughout his high school career.

"He's one of the most athletic kids we’ve had back there," Nelson Stewart, Arch's coach at Isidore Newman, told IndyStar in 2020, "if not the most athletic."

Comparing Arch to the guys who played the past 15 years for Stewart at Isidore — that's fair game on Stewart's field.

What isn't, Stewart said, is comparing Arch to those uncles of his, Peyton and Eli.

"He's his own entity," said Stewart. "We tread lightly in terms of comparing Arch."

Sometimes though, in high school, Arch liked to compare himself. And he always said he played liked his grandfather, Stewart said.

Archie said in 2019 that his grandson played with a solid mix of the skills of all the Manning football legends.

But if he had to compare Arch to his uncles, "he was a little ahead of Peyton and Eli."

Will Arch's freshman season at Texas turn out the same?

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts Peyton Manning's nephew Arch Manning commits to Texas