Friday Night Notes: Texas trending for Arch Manning?
USA TODAY High School Sports‘ Friday Night Notes is a weekly high school football recruiting recap that looks at the latest news from around the country—from the Class of 2022 to ’23 and beyond.
Arch Manning’s recruitment is rolling along with the summer quickly approaching. As the race for the top recruit in the class of 2023 progresses, it seems as if the list of serious suitors shrinks on an almost-daily basis.
Predicting where Manning will land right now is an imperfect science. He still has visits to make and while he might be zoning in on certain schools, it’s still a toss up. One analyst seems to think a soon-to-be SEC program is trending in the right direction to land the prized passer — especially if another program in the conference drops out of the picture.
Let’s take yet another look at Manning’s recruitment, as well as other storylines currently playing out around the country.
Arch to Texas?
Syndication: The Daily Advertiser
247Sports analyst Blake Brockermeyer thinks Texas is the program in the best spot to land Manning if Alabama drops out of the race. Georgia is still very much in play, but Brockermeyer sees Texas as the spot for Manning when it’s all said and done.
“I think he’s going to go to Texas,” Brockermeyer said. “I think Texas is somewhere where he can create his own special legacy. A team that hasn’t won a national championship since 2005. Georgia obviously just won one this last season. Georgia’s got all the players that you need to win. If he were to go to Texas and win it there, then he would be a legend. That’s just the way it is. It’s such a tough opportunity to create your own legacy that Texas gives him that opportunity because they haven’t won in a long time.
“I think that’s where he’ll go. I do have a very good connection that’s very well-connected at Georgia that thinks he’s going to go to Georgia, so I think it could go either way. If I’m putting money on it myself, I think he’s going to go to Texas.”
Eli Holstein to Alabama gaining steam
Syndication: The Daily Advertiser
Alabama plans to hold off on taking a 2023 quarterback until Manning commits might be going out the window. Four-star Zachary (La.) signal-caller and former Texas A&M commit Eli Holstein recently picked up a 247Sports Crystal Ball prediction to land with the Crimson Tide. Holstein has visited Tuscaloosa numerous times this spring.
“So Bama obviously loves Eli Holstein,” 247Sports’ Greg Biggins said. “They’re not going to basically wait around for Arch. They see Eli as a guy and they sound like they’re going to zero in on him and make a hard push for him if you’ve got Nick Saban calling him.
“And I assume the pitch went something like, ‘Hey, last quarterback, Mac Jones, went in the first round. He’s already balling out for the Patriots. Bryce Young will be a top-10 pick next year. Why would you not want to play for this program? Why would you want to go anywhere else?'”
Notre Dame and Ohio State for Rico Flores?
Photo: Brandon Huffman, 247Sports
The four-star Folsom (Calif.) wide receiver seems to have two standouts among his final list ahead of his July 3 commitment — Ohio State and Notre Dame. The two programs seem to be neck and neck right now, although Flores recently enjoyed a trip to Columbus.
Massachusetts ATH schedules quartet of official visits
Photo: Gaby Urrutia, 247Sports
Buckingham Browne & Nichols School’s Ronan Hanafin has mapped out his official visit schedule for June. Boston College, Clemson, Nebraska and Notre Dame will all be receiving officials. Notre Dame profiles as the leader for Hanafin at this point in time, but don’t sleep on local Boston College. He has strong family ties to the program.
More recruiting news from the USA TODAY Sports' college wires
Syndication: The News-Press
Buffaloes Wire: 2023 DB Arian Parish names the Buffaloes to his top-six
Gators Wire: Florida coaches keeping an eye on nation’s No. 2 RB recruit
Auburn Wire: Auburn offers 5-star 2024 athlete KJ Bolden
Wolverines Wire: Michigan football makes top 5 for elite Texas wide receiver
Trojans Wire: One recruiting battle just became more important for USC and Lincoln Riley
