"As good as I’ve seen": Ex-LSU coach Ed Orgeron drops massive praise on Arch Manning, linking him to a college football legend

The excitement around Texas quarterback Arch Manning keeps growing. Manning saw limited action during his first two seasons behind Quinn Ewers, but he is now the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy in 2025.

On the Barstool Sports podcast "Pardon My Take," former LSU coach Ed Orgeron compared Manning to a previous Heisman winner.

“He’s as close to, or maybe as good as, Joe (Burrow) that I’ve seen and I've never said that about anybody,” Orgeron said.

Burrow’s 2019 Heisman-winning season at LSU is regarded as one of the greatest individual campaigns in college football history. He led the program to a perfect 15-0 record, set multiple NCAA and SEC records, and capped the season with a national championship.

Burrow threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns with a 76.3% completion rate, while also rushing for 368 yards and five touchdowns. He won the Heisman by a record margin and was the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Matching or exceeding Burrow’s achievements will be a formidable task for Manning. However, 247Sports national recruiting analyst Cooper Petagna previously drew a similar comparison between Manning and Burrow in his early scouting report.

Manning has also been compared to ex-Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence by Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt and to ex-Florida QB Tim Tebow by ESPN’s Paul Finebaum.

Paul Finebaum reacts to Arch Manning's Heisman buzz

Arch Manning is taking reps with Texas’ starting lineup as he prepares to step into the full-time quarterback role, while Matthew Caldwell, KJ Lacey, and Trey Owens compete for the backup spot.

With just two starts and 95 career passing attempts, there is very little data to gauge Manning’s potential as a 2025 Heisman contender. On “The Paul Finebaum Show,” the football analyst shared his candid take.

“Forget what a pundit says, but Vegas right now has him as the favorite to win the Heisman,” Finebaum said. “I have no earthly idea how they come up with that stuff. So, it’s not just based on two games last year.

"It’s based on what a reasonable facsimile, not so much legitimate, but people actually bet real money on things like that.”

However, Steve Sarkisian reassured that Manning is handling the pressure of high expectations with composure. The Texas QB concluded the 2024 season with 939 passing yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions across 10 games.

About the author

Maliha is a High School Sports news and listicles writer at Sportskeeda. A post graduate in Management Information Systems, it was her love for writing and sports which led her down the path of sports content creation. An experienced NBA and NFL writer, she covered the two sports extensively at SportsZion and SportsKnot before joining SportsKeeda.

Maliha is a huge Baltimore Ravens fan and is in awe of quarterback Lamar Jackson's dual-threat abilities. She also admires Tom Brady and her all-time favorite coach is 3-time Super Bowl champion Andy Reid. She is a big advocate of high school sports and believes that elite athletes reach a top level owing to the discipline, hard work, team dynamics, resilience, adaptability and self-confidence learnt by playing sports in high schools. Aaron Rodgers leading the Green Bay Packers to victory on his debut against the Minnesota Vikings is one of her fondest NFL memories.

Maliha places a high emphasis on accuracy in her content. She does thorough research, always double checks facts, and only uses information from most relevant and credible sources for her articles. When not writing, she likes to read history and biographical books.

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