Josh Heupel explains why Tennessee football didn't get Arch Manning over Texas

Coach Josh Heupel said Tennessee football was out of the Arch Manning recruiting race early on, and it appears the Texas quarterback was never close to following his famous uncle, Peyton Manning, to the Vols.

Heupel was hired at Tennessee in 2021, when COVID restrictions limited in-person recruiting. By early 2022, Arch Manning had already narrowed his list of preferred schools, and Tennessee wasn’t among them.

Heupel recalled that period during the SEC coaches teleconference on Sept. 23.

“It was the beginning stages of when we initially got here to Tennessee as a staff,” Heupel said. “I talked to (Arch Manning). We talked to him a few times. But it moved pretty quickly where he had kind of narrowed it down.”

Arch Manning will lead No. 1 Texas (3-0) against No. 13 Tennessee (3-0) on Sept. 26 (noon ET, ABC) at Neyland Stadium.

It will be Arch Manning’s first visit to Knoxville. He didn’t take a recruiting visit to Tennessee And Peyton Manning played quarterback at Tennessee in the 1990s, years before Arch was born.

“But I’ve known different members of their family for a long time, Peyton and their dad (Archie Manning),” Heupel said. “I have a ton of respect for that family. You can look at the success of them as quarterbacks. But just who they are as people, they’re as good as they get.”

Tennessee got Nico Iamaleava while Arch Manning weighed options

Heupel said Tennessee tried to recruit Arch Manning, but it was too little too late.

He was the No. 1 player in the 2023 class, according to 247Sports Composite. Texas, Alabama, Georgia, LSU and others had a headstart on the Vols, who hired Heupel in 2021 following the Jeremy Pruitt recruiting scandal.

Arch Manning committed to Texas on June 23, 2022, and signed with the Longhorns.

Tennessee didn’t labor much over losing Arch Manning because it got the jump on five-star Nico Iamaleava, the No. 2 quarterback and No. 3 player overall in the 2023 class. The top schools and recruiting analysts were divided at the time between which quarterback was better.

Iamaleava committed to Tennessee on March 21, 2022, just as Arch Manning was mulling his final decision.

Tennessee signed Iamaleava along with a landmark NIL deal at the time. He helped the Vols reach the College Football Playoff in 2024, but then he transferred to UCLA in 2025 after a dispute over NIL pay.

After Iamaleava left, Tennessee got UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar from the portal. He led the SEC in passing yards in 2025, but the Vols had an 8-5 record.

In December 2025, Tennessee signed five-star quarterback Faizon Brandon, who had a comparable recruit rating to Manning and Iamaleava. Brandon has earned SEC Freshman of the Week in two of his first three starts. He'll face off with Manning when Tennessee plays Texas in this SEC opener.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Josh Heupel explains why Tennessee football didn't get Arch Manning over Texas