A new college football season will begin in two months, and the betting odds are already discussing the Heisman hopes for the 2025 season.
As of early July, Arch Manning is in the lead for the Heisman race. He's in front of Garrett Nussmeier and Cade Klubnik, and while it's not surprising to these names on the list, there's one SEC insider who's gone completely off the deep end for Manning.
Paul Finebaum links Manning to one of the best college football players of all-time, and it might be one of the most extreme takes that any insider has ever said.
Finebaum compares Manning to 2-time national champ Tim Tebow
Finebaum appeared to be on ESPN's "Get Up" to compare Manning to Tim Tebow, saying that Manning will be the best college quarterback that we've seen since Tebow back in 2006, which was 19 years ago.
"Arch Manning is the best college football quarterback we have seen since Tim Tebow entered the scene in 2006."
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) July 1, 2025
—@finebaum on Arch Manning 👀 pic.twitter.com/vTm9buTfKX
This is one of the more unexpected opinions that none of us ever saw coming. It's not too surprising for Finebaum to say that Manning will be sitting in New York for the Heisman trophy presentation, but to go as to far as to compare him to Tebow's 2006 championship season has to be one of the most unreal things we've ever heard. Trey Wingo didn't waste any time responding to Finebaum's comment.
Let’s be clear and accurate. There’s a good chance that Arch Manning could be a VERY GOOD QB not only in college but potentially in the NFL. But to suggest we’ve seen anything yet to make the best college QB in the last 2 decades is patently false. … and Paul knows this. Hot… https://t.co/MIHHKfHSxL
— trey wingo (@wingoz) July 1, 2025
Also, let's not forgot that the Georgia defense had its way with him and Quinn Ewers.
Arch Manning was put into the game vs Georgia in Austin. That proved to do nothing to help Texas's offense.
— The Bulldawg Report (@ReportBulldawg) July 1, 2025
He was 3 of 6 (50%) passing for 19 Yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, for a QB Rating of 76.6. He also took 2 sacks for -22 yards. He ran 4 times for -1 yard, with a long of 21 yards. https://t.co/6yNeFcigrs
I guess Finebaum completely forgot about some of the best QB's since then, like Johnny Manziel, Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. Burrow probably had the best season out of all of those guys by breaking records, winning a Heisman, going undefeated and winning a national championship.
Almost all of Arch Manning’s throws came against Miss St, G5’s and backups.
— Graham Coffey (@GrahamCoffeyDC) July 1, 2025
Even then, he was responsible for a larger percentage of his pressures (52.9%) than any SEC QB since Lynn Bowden (a WR who played QB due to injuries)
Manning’s processing is still very much in question https://t.co/OWZW8oxzDr
Saying that Manning is going to be the next Tim Tebow is basically saying that Texas will win a national championship. Manning has only played in a handful of games and has started in less than that. He provides excellent running ability on short yardage situations, but we haven't seen a full season out of him yet.
Manning simply hasn't put up enough reps to be seriously compared to Tebow's 2006 season, which was almost two decades ago. You can't put that out there, but now that Finebaum's comments are public, every college football fanbase (especially the Aggies) will have their eyes extra glued to the TV to watch Manning this season.