Few quarterbacks in the SEC are coming into 2025 with starting experience.

Texas quarterback Arch Manning is the betting favorite to win the Heisman; however, he only has two career starts under his belt.

But LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier is entering the 2025 season having played in 31 career games, including starting all 13 games for the Tigers in 2023.

At SEC Media Days, LSU head coach Brian Kelly’s comments about his starting quarterback shouldn’t go unnoticed as the fifth-year senior aims to win the 2026 National Championship.

It’s no secret that LSU has a track record of sending elite quarterback talent to the NFL. Joe Burrow has been a top quarterback in the league for years, and most recently, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels was the NFL Rookie of the Year and took the league by storm in 2024.

In 2024 — his first full season as the starting quarterback — Nussmeier threw for 4,052 yards, 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Now, Kelly is confident that his quarterback will take a similar leap to what Daniels made in his second season.

“Garrett Nussmeier will have a similar jump. It’s because you go on the road and it’s sold out, you play teams that are so well-coached and so balanced and have great players that you have no choice but to learn, develop, and get better, or you’re going to be left by the side,” Kelly said.

“So that’s why I’m so confident that experience in this league at the quarterback position is the most important thing. Could you come in and play as freshmen? Absolutely. But there will be those moments where you look like a freshman. You look like a first-year player. Garrett will tell that you. And he wasn’t a true freshman. He had seen it, been there.”

Despite having the second-best odds of winning the Heisman Trophy in 2025, Kelly said winning the award is not Nussemeier’s goal.

“All of our conversations with him aren’t about individual goals, they’re about how do I lead this football team to a championship,” Kelly said. “All we’ve seen is him leading, him being selfless. His selflessness is going to be the differentiator from last year to this year, as well as the experience he had playing against really good SEC teams.”

Kelly also highlighted Nussemeier’s mentality and willingness to learn and improve as a player as one of the reasons he believes his quarterback has what it takes to win in the SEC.

“Every day he comes to workouts, every day I come to practice, he’s looking for areas to improve on. I would tell you that experience is going to be his best teacher in the SEC. Having played a year in the SEC and seeing what needs to happen on a consistent basis is most important,” Kelly said.

“He brings the individual trait that coaches love because he wants to be taught, coached. He wants to be coached hard. He wants to be coached in a manner that gets him to be the best version of himself.”

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Arch Manning has taken college football by storm.

The Longhorns quarterback has only started two career games for Texas. Despite his inexperience, he’s widely expected to be in the Heisman conversation in 2025 as the starting quarterback in Austin, Texas.

While Manning has only started two career games, he has game experience under his belt. In 2024, when he served as the Longhorns’ backup quarterback behind Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning still saw the field in 10 games, where he had 90 pass attempts and 13 total touchdowns.

The 21-year-old quarterback said that experience will help him in 2025.

“Anytime you can get reps in the game and make an impact to help your team win, it definitely builds your confidence for the following year,” Manning said.

Many players come to college programs around the country and need time to mature. But Manning is far from a “typical” player, and Texas’ head coach Steve Sarkisian believes his maturity will help him succeed with the Longhorns.

“He’s got a very even keel about him, he’s very quick-witted, he’s got a great sense of humor about himself and he’s OK to laugh at himself,” Sarkisian said. “I think that’s a great quality to have.”

While Sarkisian said he understands the coaching staff has to do their part in putting him in a good position to win, he knows Arch Manning already has what it takes.

“He’s a great guy, he’s a great teammate and he has an unbelievable work ethic,” Sarkisian said. If he stays true to himself, that’s gonna help him navigate these waters as they present themselves.”

For Manning, the key to the offseason wasn’t necessarily on the football field. Instead, he wants to become a more vocal leader for his team.

“As much as it wasn’t always easy, those two years I feel like I got a lot of respect from the team,” Manning said. “Now, being more of a vocal leader, they know it’s coming from a place of love and I’m not just being a turd.”

With everything going for him, Sarkisian knows that when adversity strikes during the season, his starting quarterback will battle through.

“He’s prepared for the moment, but now it’s time for him to go do it,” Sarkisian said.

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Texas is coming off its first appearance in the College Football Playoff, and head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns are working to return to the postseason amid their move to the Southeastern Conference.

Sarkisian and the Longhorns held their annual Orange-White Game on Saturday, splitting the team into an intrasquad scrimmage and seeing Team Orange win 35-34 over Team White. Between their 37-31 defeat to Washington in the Sugar Bowl, managing roster construction and building during spring practice, Sarkisian said the Longhorns have looked for their identity for the 2024 season.

READ: Former Trojans WR Mike Williams joins USC as Director of Player Development

“Between a lot of these mid-year high school kids and the transfers that showed up in the program, we had to kind of recreate ourselves this spring,” Sarkisian said. “And I thought that the buy-in was there. I would say this, like, our practices were really competitive. And they were hard. And they were tough, and they were physical. But yet, they really were working with one another to try to get better, and to me that that sets us up for June. As you guys know, in June and July, we do a ton of culture work and that’s when we really start on that stuff. But man, I feel like we’ve almost got a head start on that because of the way they competed in spring.”

READ: NCAA penalizes Arizona State for ‘impermissible in-person recruiting contacts’

Texas took in several transfers since the offseason began, including Alabama wide receiver Isaiah Bond. He impressed with 98 receiving yards across three catches, including a 75-yard touchdown thrown by redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning. Bond, entering his junior year, caught 888 yards and five touchdowns with the Crimson Tide, and he figures to be a weapon for Longhorns starting quarterback Quinn Ewers.

Ewers played two series, and senior defensive lineman Alfred Collins returned a tipped pass 32 yards for a touchdown when Ewers was in the game. Texas’ returning third-year starting quarterback said gaining chemistry with new receivers was among his top priorities this spring.

“Some of the goals were obviously just needed to get to know those guys — a bunch of new faces in that room — and be able to connect on the field and even off the field,” Ewers said. “But I think as a whole that whole room did a great job of coming in this entire spring and really trying to put their head down whether that’d be learning the offense for some of these guys or continue to work on their routes for the guys that do know the offense and just come out each day. And again, just put their head down and go to work, so proud of those guys for that.”

Wide receivers senior Thatcher Milton had a 50-yard receiving touchdown, sophomore DeAndre Moore Jr. had 93 receiving yards and a touchdown, and freshman Ryan Wingo scored on a 56-yard touchdown.

READ: NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approves ‘optional technology rules’ for 2024 season

Manning shined in the spring game. By halftime he’d gone 11-for-13 with 190 passing yards and two touchdowns eventually finishing with 335 yards and three scores.

“The biggest thing I saw from Arch was something that we kind of really harped on with him about a week and a half ago about just dialing into playing the play, keeping your eyes up, and I think I talked about this last week: when he gets himself in trouble at times at quarterback is when he relies on his athleticism, which he has a ton of and he can do, and there’s times today I blew the whistle on him,” Sarkisian said. “I don’t know if he was really happy with me that I blew it, but he’s noncontact. But when he keeps his eyes up and steps up in the pocket, and he can deliver those balls down the field the way we’d like to play. And so it was good to see and was good to see some of the guys around him play with him the way that they did.”

The Longhorns will begin summer workouts until the start of fall camp in August. They’re looking forward to opening the season against Colorado State at home on Aug. 31.

Texas will have an interesting schedule its first year in the Southeastern Conference. Sarkisian and the Longhorns will host Florida, Georgia and Kentucky, and they’ll travel to Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

READ: Arizona State QB Jaden Rashada announces transfer

The summer yields vital results when players focus on continuing their progress from the spring. Sarkisian said he’ll hold exit meetings with each player who’ll also meet with their position coaches. Sarkisian listed the defensive line and secondary among the areas he hopes the Longhorns can address this summer — as well as getting Texas back to the Playoff.

“What excited me today is that playmakers made plays, and that’s something that you try to recruit to, and how do playmakers make plays? You got to be effective at the line of scrimmage, right?” Sarkisian said. “I think that that we’ve got a lot of talent. We’ve got — there’s a lot of playmakers. We play a physical brand of football. But more importantly, I like the kind of energy of this team. They’re in it together, and they want to be really good. And when you as a coach, when you have a team that’s motivated to shoot towards a goal like you are, that’s what makes it exciting to come in every day and to tap into them and go to work.”

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No. 1 Michigan claimed the top spot after winning the Big Ten Championship and will play in the Rose Bowl against No. 4 Alabama, which got in after beating No. 6 Georgia in the Southeastern Conference Championship.

READ: Full list of Power 5 bowl games 

In the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Pac-12 champion No. 2 Washington will face Big 12 champion No. 3 Texas on Jan. 1, 2024.

Here are several players and notes to keep a tab on in this week’s Big Board.

Who got the best scenario in the Playoff?

Michigan-Alabama and Washington-Texas will be the matchups in this year’s CFP.

So which team got the best path to a national championship? Well, the answer to that could be any one of the four.

According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Michigan has the best odds to win the national title at +175. Alabama is second at +210, Texas is third at +260 and Washington is fourth at +800.

Michigan has made an early exit in each of its past two CFP appearances over the past two years. The Wolverines haven’t been able to advance past the semifinal round, and their hopes are accomplishing just that this time around.

The Wolverines will match up with an Alabama team that flew under the radar for most of the season. The Crimson Tide lost to Texas in Week 2, and were widely considered to must win the SEC in order to win the Playoff.

Alabama did just that, though, dethroning the Bulldogs and capturing the SEC crown for the first time since 2021. The Crimson Tide have made the national championship in each of the past six times they’ve made the Playoff, and they’ll have a strong challenge against a Michigan team that has the No. 2 scoring defense holding opponents to 9.5 points per game.

READ: Quotables: Week 14

Texas, much like Alabama, had unfavorable positioning to make the Playoff entering conference championship weekend. The Longhorns seemed locked into the No. 7 spot in the rankings, but after winning the Big 12 in 49-21 fashion, they vaulted to No. 3.

The Longhorns could have the best path to a national championship. A win over Washington, an unbeaten conference champion with a Heisman Trophy finalist in quarterback Michael Penix Jr., could serve as a statement in the Alamo Bowl rematch from a year ago.

Then, Texas could match up with either Michigan or Alabama, and a rematch against the Crimson Tide could settle much of the debate surrounding the major themes in college football this season.

But Washington has long been counted out. The Huskies were nine-point underdogs entering the Pac-12 Championship against Oregon.

Each of the four Playoff teams have a path to a national championship. Now it’s time to find out which can withstand the others.

It’s time to crown a Heisman Trophy winner

The Heisman Foundation revealed its four finalists on Monday, and not too much surprise came with that.

Three quarterbacks are among this season’s Heisman finalists: LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr.

Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. became the fifth different Buckeyes finalist in six years. He could follow in the footsteps of former Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith who won the Heisman after the 2020 season.

Any of the four finalists could win the Heisman. They each have a case.

Nix and Penix battled back and forth all season for the top spot in the Pac-12 Conference. Penix and Washington won the conference title after beating Nix and the Ducks for a second time.

Daniels has arguably the strongest chance to win the Heisman. He leads in a multitude of major statistical categories, including passing efficiency and touchdowns.

Daniels has 3,812 passing yards and 1,134 rushing yards, and he’s responsible for the most points in college football this season at 302, more than 20 ahead of the next closest player.

READ: LSU’s Jayden Daniels among 4 named Heisman finalists

Harrison has an interesting case to present as a wide receiver. There have been only three wide receivers to win college football’s top award.

Harrison caught 1,211 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns this season. He was second in receiving touchdowns in the NCAA, and he brought in 67 receptions which were 10 fewer than his season last year.

Daniels has the best odds to win the Heisman according to multiple sportsbooks. If that plays true, Daniels would be the first Tiger to win the Heisman since Joe Burrow in 2019.

Quinn Ewers, Texas

The Longhorns are right where they want to be.

Texas made the Playoff after standing on the outside looking in for most of the season. The Longhorns’ only loss came to Oklahoma in Week 6.

Quarterback Quinn Ewers is a big reason for Texas’ success. He battled injuries throughout the season and missed two games in late October to November.

Ewers led the Big 12 with a 70.7% completion and was second in passing yards per game, behind Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel. Ewers had 3,161 passing yards and 21 touchdowns to six interceptions.

Ewers has a decision to make after the season.

Given he began his college football career prior to the 2021 season after enrolling early at Ohio State and now has three years of experience, Ewers has NFL Draft eligibility.

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, it’s likely though that Ewers remains at Texas for another season. The odds of Ewers’ return “has increased exponentially in the past few weeks,” according to Thamel.

Ewers’ return cold have multiple dominoes fall in line. What would happen with backup and five-star recruit Arch Manning, and who may be interested in joining Ewers in Texas?

According to 247 Sports, Manning is “completely content remaining in Austin” and isn’t expected to consider the transfer portal.

READ: USC’s Lincoln Riley announces QB Caleb Williams won’t play in Holiday Bowl 

With Manning likely to still be a Longhorn in 2024, Ewers could decide to stay at Texas for another season before considering the NFL in 2025.

Whatever decision Ewers chooses to make, the former five-star recruit himself has plenty of opportunity.

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That answer could remain in either No. 1 Georgia or No. 2 Michigan, while the latter is currently the subject of an alleged sign stealing investigation by the NCAA. 

PODCAST: Do we have any more clarity after some major week eight decisions?

Or, it could be any of the remaining six unbeaten teams, such as No. 3 Ohio State or No. 4 Florida State. 

Penn State and North Carolina suffered their first losses of the season in Week 8 and face an uphill climb back into title contention. 

Here are several players and notes to keep a tab on in this week’s Big Board. 

Midseason All-American lists are released 

A number of outlets released their midseason All-American lists in recent weeks, including Sporting News, The Associated Press and ESPN. 

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was unanimously named to all three midseason All-American lists. He is joined by Notre Dame running back Audric Estime, LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers and Georgia tight end Brock Bowers as offensive skill players named to all three lists. 

Among the others who were named unanimous midseason All-Americans includes: offensive guards Cooper Beebe of Kansas State and Zak Zinter of Michigan; linebacker Dallas Turner of Alabama; edge rusher Laiatu Latu of UCLA; defensive lineman Howard Cross III of Notre Dame; linebacker Edgerrin Cooper of Texas A&M; safeties Malaki Starks of Georgia and Jaylin Simpson of Auburn; and punter Tory Taylor of Iowa. 

How will Ewers’ injury impact Texas? 

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers “is expected to miss some time” with a grade 2 AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. 

The Longhorns nearly suffered a setback at the hands of Houston on Saturday. They escaped with a 31-24 win but now face questions surrounding their quarterback position. 

Ewers ranked No. 10 in completion percentage and No. 15 in passing efficiency among quarterbacks this season. He’s a key part of the Longhorns offense in year two with Ewers under center. 

So where does Texas turn from here? The answer may already have been in front of the Longhorns with quarterback Maalik Murphy. 

Murphy entered the game after Ewers departed, and he filled the role while Texas held off the Cougars. Murphy completed one pass for seven yards among two attempts. 

Murphy is a former four-star recruit according to 247 Sports, and he has the tools necessary to keep Texas afloat this season, standing 6-foot-5 and weighing 238 pounds. Texas also has five-star freshman Arch Manning in the same quarterbacks room. 

Texas has five games left before conference championship season heats up, and the Longhorns are prime in the Big 12 race. Their loss to Oklahoma could loom large, as does a potential rematch, but Ewers’ absence will loom even larger until his return. 

How will Ohio State’s defense hold up the rest of the season? 

Ryan Day said the Buckeyes played “championship level” defense against Penn State on Saturday. 

Ohio State isn’t typically known for its defense. High-powered, explosive offense is usually the name of the game for the Buckeyes. 

READ: Quotables: Week 8

But in 2023, teams are having trouble moving the ball and scoring against the Buckeyes. They rank No. 4 in the country in total defense allowing an average of 260.1 yards per game and No. 3 in scoring defense allowing 10 points per game. 

Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has transformed the Ohio State defense in two years under his tutelage. He attributed the dramatic change thus far to “knowing the scheme” and having it honed against opponents. 

Ohio State will face three teams among its final five games that rank within the bottom half of the Big Ten Conference in total offense: Rutgers, Michigan State and Minnesota. 

The other two remaining games are against Wisconsin, which ranks fifth in the conference, and at Michigan, which is third. It’ll be a test and fun challenge to see how the Buckeyes continue to hold up and do so among the best nationally. 

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