Tom Brady knows a thing or two about overcoming adversity, and he’s defending Texas redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning in the wake of the Longhorns’ Week 1 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes.
On Saturday, No. 3 Ohio State defeated No. 1 Texas 14-7 in Columbus. It was one of the most highly anticipated non-conference games in recent years, with Manning receiving much of the attention.
The 21-year-old QB wasn’t great in Week 1, although he still has plenty of time to put forth a solid 2025 campaign, Brady says.
Speaking with NFL analyst Cris Collinsworth on the “Pro Football Focus” podcast, Brady said that if Manning uses his subpar performance and Texas’ loss “to his advantage, he’s going to be tougher for it. He’s going to have a better next game because of it.”
Brady won a record seven Super Bowl titles during his legendary NFL career. However, in college, he had to grind it out to eventually earn the starting quarterback job at Michigan as a junior.
Even then, he had to keep fighting to remain QB1 for the Wolverines, and was infamously a sixth-round pick (199th overall) in the 2000 draft. Undeniably, overcoming adversity served Brady well in college and then in the pros.
On the “Pro Football Focus” podcast, Brady added, “I always felt like you’ve got to deal with a lot of adversity, from a quarterback standpoint, to toughen you up to be the true leader for the organization.”
While Manning comes from a famous quarterback family and was the No. 1 national prospect in the 2023 class, all the fanfare surrounding him before this season was arguably overblown and unfair to him.
He had only appeared in 12 games and thrown 95 passes for the Longhorns before 2025. Yet, Manning was named a preseason first-team All-American, while some anointed him the Heisman Trophy favorite. Manning has also garnered buzz as a potential No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
So, after Ohio State’s stout defense smothered Manning, commentators began talking about how the quarterback and his program may not be the significant College Football Playoff contender that many felt they were in the preseason.
“This is a team that can get it back together and win the SEC,” national analyst Brad Crawford said on the “CBS Sports HQ” program. “But, I’m probably not picking that any longer after seeing what happened on Saturday.”
That seems a tad short-sighted. Texas, which is now No. 7 in this week’s Associated Press top-25 poll, has only played one game. Manning went 17-of-30 for 170 yards last Saturday, with one touchdown and one interception, rushing 10 times for 38 yards.
Not good, but not awful, either. Plus, Texas was playing on the road against the defending national champion. Neither team was stellar on offense.
The Longhorns’ subsequent three encounters are against San Jose State, UTEP and Sam Houston State, giving Manning and his teammates a few weeks to work on things before the meat of their Southeastern Conference docket.
“Arch Manning is gonna be a freaking superstar,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “And people that don’t believe that, they’re just stupid.”
