60 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
On his very first play Arch Manning audibled
at the line of scrimmage, took the snap out of the
shotgun and then floated a 25-yard touchdown
pass into his receiver’s outstretched hands, video
of which garnered more than 2 million views on
ESPN’s social media platforms. So much for no
one noticing. “As soon as he dropped back and
threw it, I knew it would exceed expectations,”
Stewart says. “It was crazy. That’s foreshadowing.”
Arch is really good at throwing a football, which
shouldn’t be much of a surprise. He is the name-
sake of grandfather Archie, a college All-American
and the Saints’ star quarterback for a decade; the
son to Archie and Olivia’s oldest child, Cooper,
a former Ole Miss signee; and the nephew of
Peyton and Eli, future Hall of Famers who have
each piloted teams to two Super Bowl victories.
Dozens of college coaches showed up last
spring to watch Arch practice. As a 15-year-old
freshman he threw for 34touchdowns during
the regular season, more than any QB in the
football hub that is the New Orleans metro area.
Random men approached him before games for
pictures. Two posed as working photographers
just to share a sideline with Arch. They were
escorted off the field.
Arch has the rich stats, the regal last name and
the right build—he’s already 6'2", 170pounds—to
be one of the most coveted prospects in the 2023
recruiting class. Yet he has zero scholarship offers.
The reason? His family has declined them.
FOUR MILES WEST
of the cobbled streets and raucous music halls of
Bourbon Street, the 117-year-old Isidore Newman
School sits quietly behind wrought-iron gates in
the charming Uptown neighborhood. Prized locally
as one of Louisiana’s elite secondary education
institutions, Newman is known nationally because
of one name: Manning.
Archibald Charles Manning is the fourth mem-
ber of the family to play football for Newman.
You don’t have to remind him. A retired jersey
representing his father and two uncles hangs
outside the team’s fieldhouse. He lines up for
home games within a sports complex that bears
his surname. The school’s highest athletic honor
is called the Manning Award. Arch occupies the
position that his grandfather played with guts
and flair, one that also helped make Peyton and
Eli No.1 picks in the NFL draft.
Yet neither of Arch’s fabled uncles started until
their sophomore seasons at Newman. After coach
Joe Chango watched Arch complete 19 of 27 passes
for 203 yards and two touchdowns against his
Country Day School team this fall, he recalls tell-
ing Archie on the field, “That dude is going to be
better than any one of your sons.”
Arch led the Greenies to a 9–2 record, complet-
ing 64.5% of his throws with just six intercep-
tions, and surpassed 200yards in all but three
games. He can dance in the pocket, cycle through
his progressions and spin the ball like an old pro.
Arch is a “slam dunk for the future,” says Frank
Monica, whose St.Charles team beat Newman
last season. “His release is so pure, you marvel
at the fact that he’s just 15.”
Consider a few moments from the 39–0 win over
Cohen High. Arch slipped out of a would-be sack to
lob a swing pass over a defender’s head. He zipped a
pair of precise slant passes, hit a receiver in stride on
a go-route and whistled one into a wideout’s chest
on a deep crossing pattern for a touchdown. His
demeanor was not of a novice but a veteran, walking
slowly to the sideline and revealing his youth only
when he slipped off his helmet—a bushel of curly
brown hair and sparkling green eyes.
“When it’s all said and done, he’s going to be
the most highly recruited player out of the state of
Louisiana,” says Mike Detillier, a longtime NFL
Nelson Stewart had it planned perfectly,
or so he thought. A few plays into his team’s spring
game last May, the coach slipped in his
EIGHTH-GR ADE QUARTERBACK,
hoping no one would notice. Stewart soon learned
just how long he could keep the latest member of the
sport’s most fabled family under wraps.
