The biggest reason why Arch Manning didn’t sign with Alabama could be the reason the Crimson Tide won’t land elite QBs in the future

When quarterback Arch Manning committed to the Texas Longhorns in the summer of 2022, it came as a bit of a surprise to college football fans.

Manning committed to Texas over Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, LSU, and Virginia.

At the time, Texas was coming off a 5-7 season in Steve Sarkisian’s first year as the Longhorns’ head coach.

Alabama and Georgia were viewed by many as the favorites for Manning due to their annual standing as legitimate championship contenders (Alabama and Georgia had won the previous two national championships at the time of Manning’s commitment).

So why did Manning choose a program that had been mired in mediocrity over two established championship contenders?

Manning recently pointed out that he liked the idea of bringing Texas “back“.

Another key reason, according to his brother Heid, is because it’s easier to live a normal life while flying under-the-radar in Austin than it is in Tuscaloosa or Athens.

“I remember him asking a lot of questions away from football,” said Heid to 247Sports when asked about Arch’s recruiting visits. “Like, nothing about NIL dollars or the NFL. He was asking, like, ‘Am I going to be able to get away and maybe go somewhere where people don’t recognize me as much?’ And out of Athens, Tuscaloosa and Austin, I mean, it’s easily Austin for that.”

“Like, I think you can go to East Austin or South Congress, into more of those kind of quirky and Millennial-run neighborhoods, and he’s not recognized as much. On campus, it’s different. You get more people stopping you for pictures.”

“But on his visits, he was asking, ‘Is there anywhere I can lay low?’ He loves his privacy, and he loves not being in the spotlight,” continued Heid. “So I think that was a big part for him. I just think seeing Austin, he could see himself being happy when he was away from football. Texas has great education, and I think he just thought, ‘Where would you want to be without football?’ And it was Texas.”