"If he’s trying to do it right, you stick with him": Nick Saban turns down Arch Manning benching rumors with his bold take

All eyes will be on the Texas quarterback Arch Manning when he takes to the field in Week 4 against Sam Houston at home. The three games of the 2025 season have been terrible for him on an individual level. He struggled to make throws and failed to capitalize on his run game. He was literally booed off by the home crowd in Week 3 against UTEP.

Experts like Paul Finebaum have given up on his prospects and have officially marked him a bust. But legends of the game like Nick Saban are not ready to lose hope and claim that Manning should be given enough room to improve and work upon himself before fans make a verdict about his future in football.

The seven-time national champion was recently speaking to Pat McAfee, where he shared his assessment of Manning and how he used to deal with situations like these.

“When we had a player that was struggling, or when we lost, I always wanted to be as technical as I could be, so the players could actually see: if I just do this correctly, we can have success. Rather than putting a lot of pressure on them, I wanted to focus on the technical side of corrections—whether it’s footwork, arm mechanics, or making the right reads,” Saban said to McAfee on Friday.

Saban mentioned that Texas has been struggling with the run game and the offense struggling to make plays deep towards the end zone, but that is momentary.

“I don’t think you only bench a guy if he’s struggling. You do it when you feel like he’s not committed to doing things the right way, or if his actions are really having a negative impact on the team—especially from an attitude standpoint. If he’s trying to do it right, you stick with him,” he added.

Steve Sarkisian asks fans to be patient with Arch Manning

The 21-year-old quarterback could only finish 55% of his passes and is currently ranked 13th in the SEC. The prospect that was viewed as a front-runner to win the Heisman is nowhere to be seen on the top 10 list.

While speaking to the reporters on Monday, Coach Sarkisian urged fans to remain patient.

He claimed that Manning’s upbringing in a pampered household surrounded by successful people could have limited his exposure to failures. But things are changing now and he is able to get a broader outlook of wins and losses and that he will get back on his feet in the coming weeks.