For all of their accomplishments on the football field, including a combined four Super Bowl championships, neither Peyton nor Eli Manning ever won the Heisman Trophy.
Peyton finished second to Michigan’s Charles Woodson in the 1997 Heisman voting, while Eli finished third in 2003.
But with the 2025 college football season set to begin this weekend, ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy, a former star quarterback at Alabama who was drafted by the Jets, has tabbed Texas quarterback Arch Manning, Peyton and Eli’s nephew, to win the award.
It’s not exactly an out-of-the-box pick, as Manning is at +500 to win the award, per Caesars.
“I’m taking Arch Manning,” McElroy said Thursday morning on ESPN. “I look at everything that he accomplished last year, and while it was limited in his sample size against top quality competition, I actually went back and watched the Mississippi State game yesterday.
“He made some throws in that game that were just flat out silly, and that was in a spot-start situation. Granted, Mississippi State defensively not great, but he was dropping throws in the bucket 50 yards downfield, moving in the pocket, escaping, creating with his legs.
“I really believe that he is going to live up to expectations this year, and that says an awful lot, considering just how high those expectations are. So I expect him in what’s become a bit of a popularity contest, the Heisman Trophy, I expect Arch to take it home and to make amends for Peyton and Eli missing the trophy a few years back.”
By contrast, former Ohio State and Florida coach Urban Meyer says to pump the brakes on Manning.
“Arch Manning hasn’t done a thing yet,” Meyer said on "The Joel Klatt Show," via FoxSports.com.
“I’m hearing the word Heisman. I’m hearing the words national champion and first pick overall,” Meyer added. “I went back and watched [him] recently. He’s a good player. He’s a really good player. But get a couple of first downs.”
Manning and No. 1 Texas open at No. 3 Ohio State at noon on Saturday (Fox).
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter and Basketball Insider for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoriaand check out his Website atZAGSBLOG.com.
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