TAMPA, Fla. -- Texas quarterback Arch Manning spent his offseason getting healthy, but he also added a key intangible to his game -- taking ownership of leading the team.
Teammate Colin Simmons perhaps said it best: "We need a different side of Arch if we want to get somewhere. So, Arch definitely brought that side of him out, and I feel like as long as we trust and believe in Arch as a team and never look past him or look down at him, we're going to be OK."
There is no bigger spotlight on a player than the one on Manning, whose uncles and grandfather played and starred in the NFL. After early-season struggles in his first year as a starter started to take a toll, Arch Manning decided to stop being angry with himself and start playing with nothing to lose.
That completely flipped a switch for him -- and the team.
"He had never been the starter," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "A lot of us were pushing Arch to become the leader because it was his team. Arch always took the idea, 'I haven't earned it yet.' It was almost ingrained in him from his grandpa. You've got to earn everything you get. It was the whole NIL, it was the leadership, it was all these things. So ironically, it took failure. It took all this adversity that he had to go through for him to get on the other side of it.
"That's really when the team, as much as they loved him before, that's when the respect kicked in because they're like, 'That guy's mentally tough and he's physically tough to get on the other side of that and now play the way that he's playing the second half of the season. What Colin is saying is 'Give us more of that.' That's really what Arch has been doing, and they've been feeding off of him. You can feel it that this is his team."
Manning was sidelined for most of the spring with a foot injury, but once he was medically cleared, he started to work with the rebuilt running backs and receivers room. He took the receivers and transfer running back Hollywood Smothers with him to his native New Orleans to work out and also eat good food along the way.
"It was great," Manning said. "We got a lot of good work in. I needed to have them down and see them a few extra times because I didn't do spring ball. I'm glad they came. They're a bunch of good guys. They all get along too, which is nice. Having a bunch of guys play the same position and be best friends is unique."
One of the big points of emphasis this offseason has been improving the short-yardage game. Last season, Manning completed 56.3% of his passes on throws between zero and 10 yards down the field, ranking 66th out of 67 FBS quarterbacks.
"That's not very good," Manning deadpanned when presented with the stat.
Sarkisian said he believes that area will be vastly improved for several reasons -- including the improvement of the receivers room -- with transfer Cam Coleman headlining the unit. But he mentioned that Smothers and fellow transfer back Raleek Brown will be used as well.
"He is fundamentally much better," Sarkisian said of Manning. "We have a better understanding of what he really likes to throw in that range because not every pass is the pass he wants to throw. We've got better weapons around him. We can't just drop back and pat the ball. That's a recipe for disaster. I don't care how good your O-line is. You've got to have the ability to mix up launch points, and you've got to have the ability to mix up when the ball's coming out of the quarterback's hand."
Manning admits he was hard on himself after his start -- which included a tough opener against Ohio State in which he threw for just 170 yards. But he learned how to put it all into perspective over time, which allowed him to be better. In his last six games, he threw 14 touchdown passes to just two interceptions and was far more efficient.
"I was mad at myself," Manning said. "I'm like, why am I not playing well? It's not supposed to be like this. I'm letting myself down. I'm letting the team down, the fans. And it was definitely challenging, but I think there's nothing you can do besides keep trying to get better and work hard and get through it. And I knew I was going to get through it. It just took some time."
As for the spotlight that is constantly on him, and the inevitable criticism that followed a poor start, Manning said, "I can't control what people say. I'm trying to do a good job of just controlling what I can control. Oftentimes I'm like, I wish I could be a little bit more under the radar. It's like that'll never happen.
"Obviously when you can stack some good games together, it helps build confidence of you and the team. I think I still left some out on the table, and we're all trying to prove that this year."