Gorney’s Predictions: Arch Manning delivers title to Texas, QBs in draft
Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney has three predictions on Texas and Arch Manning, the 2025 quarterback class and which QBs will be starting in college football next season.
1. Texas will win a national championship with Arch Manning.
Texas has been so close to a national championship the last two years but could not get out of the semifinal round either time.
The Longhorns lost to Washington, 37-31, two years ago in what was quarterback Quinn Ewers’ best season. Then this year, they had it first-and-goal against Ohio State to tie it in the final minutes and Jack Sawyer strip-sacked Ewers for the closer in a 28-14 win.
Ewers was a very talented quarterback, but this season especially he was not careful with the ball. Manning is an upgrade at the position. He waited his turn, sitting behind Ewers for two seasons. Texas has some rebuilding to do at certain spots but also has an abundance of talent coming back and coming in, and Manning has all the special tools to lead the Longhorns to the promised land.
My prediction is this: Texas loses next season’s opener against Ohio State (and the media has a field day with questions about Manning) and then the Longhorns run the table (we’ll see about the Georgia game) en route to another College Football Playoff run that ends with the title coming back to Austin.
2. The 2025 quarterback class will have six taken in the NFL Draft’s fifirst round.
On draft night in April, it was amazing to see Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr., JJ McCarthy and Bo Nix all taken within the first 12 selections. No draft prognosticator predicted that would happen.
Prior to 2024, the last time six were taken in the first round was 1983 when John Elway, Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason, Ken O’Brien and Dan Marino were first-round picks.
With such a loaded 2025 quarterback class led by five-stars Tavien St. Clair, Bryce Underwood, Keelon Russell and Julian Lewis, I predict six first-rounders out of this group as well.
Not only are NFL teams taking more quarterbacks early in the first round but there are a lot of other fringe five-star quarterbacks in the class with KJ Lacey, Deuce Knight and Tramell Jones leading the way. Husan Longstreet also has arm talent NFL teams will love and there is always a surprise along the way.
Six quarterbacks in the first round will not become the norm in the NFL Draft but this 2025 class has a great chance to make it happen a few years down the line.
3. Three of the four five-star quarterbacks in the 2025 class will start next season.
There are many years that five-star quarterbacks have to wait to shine. Bryce Young waited at Alabama. Nico Iamaleava waited at Tennessee. Arch Manning waited two years at Texas.
But the prediction is that three of the four five-star quarterbacks in the class – Bryce Underwood, Keelon Russell and Julian Lewis – will get thrown into the fire next season.
The only one who is likely to sit and wait is Tavien St. Clair at Ohio State, and it has nothing to do with his talent. It’s just that Julian Sayin is the next man up.
The real question for the other three is, who else?
Underwood was paid a truckload of money to flip from LSU to Michigan not to sit on the sidelines as the Wolverines desperately needed to fix their quarterback situation.
Lewis is the heir apparent to Shedeur Sanders and is immediately the most talented quarterback on the Colorado roster. If he didn’t have a chance to start from Day 1, it’s unlikely he would’ve flipped from USC to the Buffaloes.
Russell is a little wild card. Ty Simpson and especially Austin Mack (who followed coach Kalen DeBoer from Washington to Alabama) are waiting in the wings now with Jalen Milroe off to the NFL but the five-star quarterback from Duncanville, Texas, might just be too talented, too special to keep on the sidelines.
