{"id":844215,"date":"2026-09-11T14:56:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T14:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844215\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T14:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T14:56:18","slug":"a-uniquely-american-job-what-it-takes-to-be-a-big-time-college-quarterback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844215\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A uniquely American job\u2019: What it takes to be a big-time college quarterback"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Arch Manning was talking about his golf<\/a> game, replying to a throwaway question at Texas\u2019 SEC football media day<\/a> about how he blows off steam in the offseason.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Longhorns quarterback said he\u2019d been hitting the links regularly on the weekends, tagging along most recently with a buddy who was a member at Barton Creek Country Club to play the Ben Crenshaw-designed course in Austin.\n <\/p>\n

\n The driver, Manning said, had been working particularly well, so well that the 10-handicap golfer had just broke 80 for the first time. This was back in July, less than a week before the Longhorns would head into full preseason workouts, and Manning admitted that his golf days were numbered.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m going to have to stop here in a week or so until about February,\u201d he said,\n <\/p>\n

\n A reporter interrupted before Manning could finish his thought. \u201cNot January?\u201d he asked. Manning looked quizzically at him. \u201cWhenever the season ends,\u201d Manning replied, to which the reporter responded, \u201cThe season ends at the end of January.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Manning smiled. \u201cRight, so I\u2019ll be playing golf again in February.\u2019\u2019\n <\/p>\n

\n This is what it is to be a college quarterback, where simple exchanges have hidden messages \u2013 or worse, landmines to avoid \u2013 and to speak is to risk having your every word parsed. It is chronic accountability coupled with crippling responsibility. It is to be the big man on campus, until you become the biggest loser. It is to be both Fernando Mendoza<\/a>, Heisman winner, and Alberto Mendoza, recruited-over backup forced to transfer.\n <\/p>\n

\n It is to possess a strong arm, a sharp mind, a rhinoceros\u2019 thick skin and a goldfish\u2019s memory.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cPeople say good things about you when you win and bad things about you when you lose,\u201d Ohio State signal-caller Julian Sayin said during the Buckeyes\u2019 Big Ten media day.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sayin stopped to smile. \u201cActually, sometimes they say bad things about you when you win, too.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n On one hand, it is fair to ponder: Who would want such a job?\n <\/p>\n

\n But on the other, is the truth. Who wouldn\u2019t? In the hierarchy of sporting alpha males, there is no one higher than quarterback. They are the varsity jacket-wearing, high school heartthrobs and the NFL ad pitchmen, the players kids clamor to be and who companies want to associate with.\n <\/p>\n

\n Lost in the fanfare is the very delicate balance they are asked to walk between fame and infamy, adulation and abuse, but the allure makes it hard not to want to take the walk.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is a uniquely American job,\u201d says author and ESPN.com<\/a> writer Seth Wickersham, who sought to understand the position of quarterback in his book, \u201cAmerican Kings.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou wear all of these hats that no other sport requires you to wear. Amateur psychologist, spokesperson, breathtaking a**hole, all of these things you have to be and not everybody has it and to this day, I don\u2019t think anybody knows where it comes from.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Arch<\/p>\n

\"Julian<\/p>\n

\n No doubt in part aided by the availability of NIL money, this year\u2019s crop of college signal-callers is especially abundant. Of the top 20 players with odds to win the Heisman Trophy by BetMGM, only two party-crashing wide receivers, Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State) and Malachi Toney (University of Miami), break up the glut of quarterbacks.\n <\/p>\n

\n They all arrived via different paths. Some took the one less traveled \u2013 Trinidad Chambliss went from Division II Ferris State to Ole Miss. Others took the scenic route. Miami\u2019s Darian Mensah started at Tulane, transferred to Duke and then hightailed it to join the Hurricanes this year. And one took a direct snap \u2013 BYU\u2019s Bear Bachmeier became the Cougars\u2019 first freshman to start behind center in school history when he debuted against Portland State last season.\n <\/p>\n

\n This weekend, two \u2013 Manning and Sayin \u2013 will go head-to-head in a top-5 rematch of a game that ought to serve as a quarterback cautionary tale.\n <\/p>\n

\n After the Buckeyes topped the Longhorns, 14-7, in 2025, Manning was tabbed an automatic flop and Sayin destined to chart the path to another national title for OSU. Neither, of course, held true. Manning got better over time, putting the bow on his season with 376 total yards and four touchdowns against Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think \u2026 what he got put through probably would have melted or destroyed 99% of people in his shoes,\u201d Manning\u2019s coach Steve Sarkisian said. \u201cAll he did was stay consistent and true to who he was, which was to continue to work hard, continue to be a great teammate, try to get better, and he did.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Sayin, in the meantime, struggled to the finish. He was bumpy in a win against Michigan and then came up short in the Big Ten championship game against Indiana and in the first-round playoff loss against Miami.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cJulian Sayin has a different look in his eye,\u201d his coach, Ryan Day, said. \u201cHe had great success last year. Won his first start ever, home against Texas, top five matchup. Won our rivalry game in the sideways snow. Came up short at the end of the year. We all did. When you look in his eye now, you see a different person, a different body. He\u2019s worked.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Whether Manning comes into his own or Sayin shows a new glimmer remains to be seen. But it won\u2019t stop the conjecture before the game \u2013 or the referendums after it.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEveryone has an opinion, and people are paid to talk in the media,\u201d Manning said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing you can do. I\u2019m controlling the controllables, but it probably lights a little bit of a fire in me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Oklahoma<\/p>\n

\n Which is, of course, one of the great separators of quarterbacks from mere mortals. They want the smoke. For all that fans project on them \u2013 assuming they are the smartest, best looking, standard of masculinity \u2013 they bring their own set of necessary traits to the table, too.\n <\/p>\n

\n A degree of arrogance is required for the position, a willingness to absorb the spotlight partnered with the certainty that you are built to handle it.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAs a kid, you grow up and you dream of being in that situation,\u201d said John Mateer, Oklahoma\u2019s starter. Which, really, every kid does. Who hasn\u2019t hustled out into the backyard to mimic their sports heroes?\n <\/p>\n

\n But it is one thing to make believe; it is altogether a different story to do the job and do it well.\n <\/p>\n

\n Wickersham spent more than a year writing his book and cultivated the background from a sportswriting life spent observing QBs. He once dreamed of being one himself, which is what ignited the curiosity. He talked to, among others, John Elway, Steve Young and Warren Moon, while also traipsing around youth camps and talking to kids tabbed as the next insert-name-of-great-QB-here.\n <\/p>\n

\n He believes quarterbacks can be both curated and created. Some have innate talent that is naturally honed and directed. A kid with a gun for an arm and physical gifts is directed behind center much like the wily speedster heads to the wide receiver or defensive back group.\n <\/p>\n

\n Others, for certain, are incubated by gridiron versions of cheer moms, who shuffle their sons around in search of stardom.\n <\/p>\n

\n But both, he says, eventually develop a brash confidence that allows them master the position. Wickersham says, with only the slightest of chuckles, that every quarterback is something of a sociopath and likens them to politicians in the middle of a race. They require bad news filters and chronic reassurance and, contrary to the arrogance required, also have a high degree of insecurity.\n <\/p>\n

\n He even chronicles Tom Brady\u2019s love life evolution \u2013 from dating Tara Reid to marrying Giselle B\u00fcndchen \u2013 as the evidence of the quarterback mindset.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThat\u2019s not a mistake,\u201d Wickersham says. \u201cThe quarterback, he can\u2019t not dominate things.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The college game is a curious fishbowl. It is at once not nearly as big as the NFL and yet somehow the spotlight can feel even more glaring. It is a new experience, for starters, with most players getting their first foray into stardom, which can be undercut by at least an attempt at campus normalcy. They walk among us, if you will.\n <\/p>\n

\n Manning has said that often, while walking to class, he\u2019d call his mom, Ellen, so as to avoid either the finger-pointing or the picture requests. Manning, of course, was born for this. The grandson of Archie and nephew of Peyton and Eli, he is next in line in the first family of football. Before he threw a pass, he starred in a national commercial.\n <\/p>\n

\"Archie<\/p>\n

\n Not playing was not an option. Asked what he might do if he couldn\u2019t play a sport, Manning looks genuinely perplexed, as if a life without sport had never crossed his mind. Likely because it hadn\u2019t.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWould he be who he is if he was in a different family?\u201d Wickersham says. \u201cI mean, probably not, right?\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n What\u2019s interesting is that, despite all that life prep, Manning\u2019s transition to starter was bumpy.\n <\/p>\n

\n His overall passing efficiency rating for the 2025 season was 144.92, 42nd nationally and seventh in the SEC.\n <\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, Chambliss started his career at Ferris, a small school in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Though the program is good \u2013 the Bulldogs have won four national titles \u2013 there\u2019s no national TV deal. Top Taggart Field seats 6,200. No one knew who he was, really.\n <\/p>\n

\n After transferring to Ole Miss, he was designated Austin Simmons\u2019 backup \u2013 until Simmons got hurt. Suddenly, there was Chambliss under center against Arkansas, in front of 65,000 screaming Rebel fans. He threw for more than 400 yards and three touchdowns against the Razorbacks.\n <\/p>\n

\n He started this season ranked as the No. 1 quarterback in the SEC \u2013 ahead of Georgia\u2019s Gunner Stockton and Sam Leavitt at LSU, both four-star prospects and Alabama\u2019s Keelon Russell, the No. 2 prospect in his class.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a crazy ride,\u201d Chambliss said. \u201cI tend not to really look at any of the rankings. I know they have no influence on my team and what our goals are and what we know in our facility. But yeah, I mean, it\u2019s cool they have me ranked that way.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Oklahoma<\/p>\n

\n Mateer bumped into Terry Bradshaw at a Dallas-area card show this off season. The two connected via the rarefied air of their profession.\n <\/p>\n

\n Only 22, Mateer was born nearly two decades after Bradshaw retired. He knew him as a Fox TV analyst, not as a four-time Super Bowl winner.\n <\/p>\n

\n Last season, Mateer broke a bone in his throwing hand in September and, though he returned quickly, was not nearly himself. The injury played with his head as much as his game, robbing him of his confidence and physicality.\n <\/p>\n

\n Oklahoma went 2-2 in October, with Mateer only completing 58% of his passes. He says he watches those game films and cringes.\n <\/p>\n

\n So, when he did some digging on Bradshaw, he learned not just about his success but his style of play \u2013 he had a cannon for an arm but was known just as much for his fearlessness \u2013 and Mateer grew intrigued. He found some old film and started watching.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cTerry Bradshaw, y\u2019all, you\u2019re not going to believe it,\u201d Mateer says as if he found a secret sauce.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe way he makes plays and throws the ball around, it\u2019s old school,\u201d he said of Bradshaw. \u201cYou take some of the old-school stuff and add it to your game \u2013 not a lot of people are going to expect that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In last week\u2019s season opener, albeit against UTEP, he threw for 225 yards and three touchdowns.\n <\/p>\n

\n Watching from the sideline in a Boomer red shirt and a cowboy hat was Bradshaw, the past watching the future, understanding and appreciating the opportunity, the pressure and the glory as only someone in the small quarterback fraternity can.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arch Manning was talking about his golf game, replying to a throwaway question at Texas\u2019 SEC football media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-844215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}