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Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 8/31: A Surprise in the QB Race?

CLEVELAND, OHIO (TheOBR.com) - Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!

It's well-known that our beloved Cleveland Browns have been searching for a franchise quarterback ever since our equally beloved Bernie Kosar was jettisoned by Bill Belichick over thirty years ago. It's also well known that the 2026 draft has what looks to be a top-flight quarterback class.

No offense intended to Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, but this weekend provides ample opportunity for Browns fans to see what the future might look like. That continues today as South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers plays at 3PM (ESPN, Fubo) against Virginia Tech.

It's also been oft-rumored that the apple of Brown owner Jimmy Haslam's eye is Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who had the misfortune to make his grand entrance yesterday as the Longhorns' full-time starter against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Haslam and general manager Andrew Berry were both in attendance to see Manning's career take flight.

The rocket was on the launch pad. Instead of an explosive take-off, the Starship Manning sputtered a bit upon ignition, made a sound that sounded like "pffft-blatt", groaned, and fell over.

The aborted take-off was primarily due to the Buckeyes' stout defense, as Ryan Day and crew have clearly reloaded the roster for another competitive season. Manning finished 17 of 30 for 170 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The touchdown and the better throws came in the second half, as Manning's debut fizzled against the fast and active Ohio State defense.

This, in itself, was not entirely unexpected, as college teams have no preseason games to tune their offenses, and college defenses often have the upper hand in the early going. However, after an off-season of hype that included making Manning the preseason Heisman leader, the mediocre performance came as a surprise.

Manning seemed to get better when a two-touchdown deficit led him to get in a better rhythm as the Longhorns tried to come back. Still, his accuracy and strange decisions when throwing (especially a reliance on a sidearm throw) put a damper on his obvious potential as a quarterback. The Longhorns have about a month before their next tough match-up, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Manning doing much better by that point. You can see the potential.

The evening's content between LSU and Clemson provided a much more revealing glimpse of realized quarterback potential. I tuned in mostly to see a loaded Clemson team and compare how they looked in relation to my Buckeyes, but even more so to see two hyped quarterbacks: Clemson's Cade Klubnik and LSU's Garrett Nussmeier.

Both look much more like NFL-ready quarterbacks than Manning did, both succeeding to a degree against quick, swarming defenses. To my surprise, it was Nussmeier who prevailed both on the scoreboard and in my untrained eyes as a quick-thinking quarterback. Like Ohio State earlier in the day, the key to the game was LSU's stout defense, which stopped Klubnik and crew in a critical fourth-quarter situation to ice the game.

Garrett Nussmeier

Garrett Nussmeier (Photo: Getty)

Nussmeier was a revelation to me. The word that kept coming to mind while watching him play was "resourceful." He was constantly under pressure from Clemson's loaded defense, yet kept finding ways to get positive yardage despite difficult situations. He finished 28-of-38 for 230 yards and a touchdown. Klubnik, however, had moments both good and bad, showing his wheels and finishing 19-of-38 with an interception. He's got a good set of wheels.

For the weekend to date, though, pencil in Nussmeier as the winner among the crop of likely highly-drafted quarterbacks.

Make sure you've got your eraser ready, though, as LaNorris Sellers may be the best of the bunch and will play this afternoon.

College football is always fun. But with a big batch of draft picks ready to spend in 2026, Browns fans need to be paying attention. It's time well spent.

Have a good one! GO BROWNS! Newswire Bloviation Archive