Arch Manning heard the noise all last season. Early struggles made some fans call him ‘overhyped’. But a former SEC offensive lineman who saw him up close says that label misses the point. To him, Manning’s late-season surge proves the criticism was unfair, and the work finally paid off.

Former Auburn lineman Cole Cubelic told The Paul Finebaum Show he does not buy the overhyped talk. He sees a quarterback who grew into the job as the season went on. “I would disagree,” Cubelic stated. “I’d push back a little bit on the Arch Manning conversation there. I thought Arch got much better as the season progressed. He had a rough start, and he did not look confident. He did not look comfortable early.”

For Cubelic, Manning’s second half changes how people should judge him. The rocky start is real, but the finish shows a player who learned fast and made the big moments count when it mattered most for Texas. Cubelic says elite college quarterbacks share one trait. They learn to stay calm when the play breaks down. It does not matter if they are experienced like Bo Nix or still developing. The key is slowing the game down in their head when chaos hits.

You can take risks and make bold throws, but you still must control your heart rate when protection fails. Great plays often come when a quarterback can stand in the pocket, breathe, and see the field clearly instead of panicking. The season’s stats back up that idea. Manning’s early games show a learning curve, while his final stretch shows a quarterback who found his rhythm and protected the ball.

In his first seven games, Manning threw 12 touchdowns and five interceptions, topping 300 yards just once. Over his final six games, he threw 14 touchdowns and two interceptions, recorded three 300-yard games, and did not throw an interception in his last three contests. Cubelic says that calm is what turned Manning’s season around. He points to other young quarterbacks who followed a similar path once they stopped rushing every decision.

“He found his calm, and it paid off for him. That’s something Gunner Stockton did over the course of last year as well,” Cubelic said.

Early on, Manning looked tight and tried to force throws. Once he relaxed, he stopped hunting for perfect shots and started reading defenses. That shift let him stay in the pocket, go through his options, and make the right play instead of the flashy one.

Seen as a whole, the season looks more like normal growth than failure. It is not fair to judge a freshman only by his early struggles when his final games were so steady and mistake-free.

Now the question is whether Arch Manning can carry that composure into the 2026 season and beyond in the SEC. Texas has built a strong, championship-caliber roster around him, which should help if he keeps playing with the same poise.

If Texas falls short next season, much of the focus will land on Manning, as it does with star quarterbacks. In college football, patience is limited, but his late-season run shows he can handle the pressure when it counts.