Friday Night Notes: The Arch Manning Effect, updated 2023 quarterback commits, plus more

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes discusses the latest in recruiting news from across the nation.

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 ended the massive storm of landing-spot speculation on Thursday, announcing that he’ll be headed to the Texas Longhorns in 2023.

It’s a major recruiting win for the program and coach Steve Sarkisian, who will continue to face the pressures that arise from the Longhorn community’s expectations—which have been spiraling in a gray area, at best, the past few seasons.

And with that Longhorn victory comes the opposite side of the proverbial coin: An above-average loss for the other football programs that hoped to have Arch under center for the next several years. Among them were Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Clemson, and Virginia.

Of course, overemphasizing such a missed chance when talking about teenagers still in a developmental arc makes little sense, even if it’s a Manning. Sure, he’s the top-rated recruit—on all platforms and scouting boards—but certainly not the only play-caller in the class who has a chance at greatness.

So, who’s left? What’s after Arch?

The best of the best still available is growing smaller by the week and each official visit, so let’s look into the updated notebook at the top QBs from the class of 2023 and see what’s what.

Friday Night Notes: Mark Whipple and Nebraska’s rise, Notre Dame disrupts Michigan lineage, squatting 595, plus more

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes discusses the latest in recruiting news from across the nation.

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.

Look back 30 years ago in the college football world, and you’ll see that part of the battle for supremacy included the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Tommy Frazier, Ahman Green and Lawrence Phillips. Osborne is at the helm. A slew of defensive standouts, Ed Stewart and the Blackshirt dynasties. The overall product made the Cornhuskers a powerhouse contender and a recruiting mecca for high school football’s best year after year.

And though Nebraska has had success since then, nothing has matched the overall dynamics of the stretch back in the 1990s.

Instead, it’s been more of a spiral toward a gray area among college football teams, where coaching woes and atypical records have been more of the norm in Lincoln. From an outsider’s eye, those shortcomings had left the fans, alumni and boosters—one and the same—hoping for a resurgence, for the trend to shift back to when Nebraska ruled. 

And with that, we arrive at a point in time when the 2020s are the new 1990s for Nebraska football.

Where, overall, things… things don’t seem so meh.

While head coach Scott Frost’s latest haul isn’t a 5-star bonanza, there is something notable about landing top in-state recruits. (They aren’t leaving the state? Check.) Casey Thompson and Chubba Purdy highlight a transfer portal group that only adds to the upgrades for 2022 and beyond. 

Surprising? To me, yes. Very much so. And give credit to Mark Whipple, who kicks off Year One as offensive coordinator, for much of that. The former Pitt OC has been around the recruiting game for decades, including the years when Nebraska was tops. So he knows what it takes.

He also knows that recruiting is simply a teaser for the larger work ahead.

“Recruiting, no question, is really, really important,” Whipple told 247Sports. “But a lot of it still has to do with development and the coaching culture.”

Here’s more from the notebook…

Friday Night Notes: Arch Manning, the end of Saban vs. Fisher, 5-star official visits, and more

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes discusses the latest in recruiting news from across the nation.

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.

Like any good heavyweight bout, the fight just didn’t go as many rounds as some might have expected. 

Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher added a final scene to the saga created by Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban this past Wednesday, closing out a battle that looked destined to stretch into the summer and fall. 

“It’s over with,” Fisher stated. “We’re done talking about it. We’re moving on to try to fix the problems of what we have in college football. There are a lot more pressing needs than our arguments.”

The “problems” Fisher referred to are those currently floating in the still-unknown waters of the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) processes that will undoubtedly shift how college recruiting is handled. And it’s the same “problems” that started this SEC kerfuffle, with Saban accusing the Aggies football program of monetary mischief — they “bought every player,” claimed the Crimson Tide’s top dog.

Of course, nothing is really over. Well, not over-over. So, let’s call this an intriguing chapter in the growing Book of NIL.

And as the recruiting rush for the top prospects in the class of 2023 escalates, it’ll be a storyline that certainly warrants revisiting. 

Speaking of…

Friday Night Notes: The impact of Eli Holstein’s commitment to Alabama

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes discusses the latest in recruiting news from across the nation.

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.

One of the top quarterbacks in the class of 2023 went off the board earlier this week, as former four-star Texas A&M commit Eli Holstein committed to play for Nick Saban at Alabama.

Holstein’s commitment is intriguing beyond the fact that Saban landed a former Jimbo Fisher recruit just a couple of weeks after their verbal spat over NIL. Holstein pledging to the Crimson Tide impacts the rest of the 2023 quarterback class — including Arch Manning.

Let’s dive a bit deeper into that in the latest edition of Friday Night Notes.

Friday Night Notes: Ohio State sets the pace for 2024 QB recruiting, Saban vs. Fisher, plus more

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes discusses the latest in recruiting news from across the nation.

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.

Much of the focus in the recruiting world is currently on the class of 2023, but there has also been some recent movement in the class of 2024.

Five-star Chandler (Ariz.) quarterback Dylan Raiola recently committed to Ohio State, giving the Buckeyes an elite foundational piece for their 2024 class. Raiola’s commitment means a lot for the way the rest of the cycle will play out— not just for Ohio State, but also other blue blood programs around the nation.

Let’s dive a bit deeper into that in the latest edition of Friday Night Notes.

Friday Night Notes: Official visit season inching closer

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes discusses the latest in recruiting news from across the nation.

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.

June is inching closer by the day, which means official visit season is right around the corner.

Some programs are already conducting official visits this month, but the bulk of the trips elite prospects across the nation take will occur in June. Let’s take a closer look at where some blue-chip recruits are heading next month, as well as the schools that are standing out to some intriguing prospects.

Friday Night Notes: Texas trending for Arch Manning?

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes discusses the latest in recruiting news from across the nation.

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.

Friday Night Notes: Former 5-star recruits headline first round of 2022 NFL draft

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes discusses recruiting rankings and the 2022 NFL draft.

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.

The first round of the 2022 NFL draft was naturally littered with star power. Top talents from across college football heard their names called in the first 32 picks, marking the beginning of the next chapter of their career.

Recruiting rankings aren’t everything, but they’re usually a good indicator of which high school prospects have the best chance of hearing their name called early in the draft. That was the case again Thursday night, as nine former five-star recruits were picked. Even more former four-star recruits were selected.

Let’s take a deeper dive into why stars do indeed matter in the latest edition of Friday Night Notes.

Friday Night Notes: LSU making a ‘strong impression’ on Arch Manning

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes has plenty to break down on the HS football recruiting trail.

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 continues to be the story of the 2023 recruiting cycle, and one program is making up a lot of ground with the five-star quarterback thanks to its new head coach. There is plenty of other movement around the nation as well, including the latest on another blue-chip signal-caller.

Let’s look at which school is climbing up Manning’s list and other recruiting news ahead of the weekend.

From the FNN drawer

4/15: Spring games create a star-studded recruiting weekend

4/8: Josh Conerly Jr. is headed to Oregon

Friday Night Notes: Star recruits flock to spring games, Arch Manning’s NIL offer

The latest edition of USA TODAY High School Sports’ Friday Night Notes has plenty to break down on the HS football recruiting trail.

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.

Spring football is wrapping up across the nation, and recruits are taking advantage of the spring games to get onto college campuses and experience the action in a stadium setting.

Let’s take a look at where the elite recruits in the class of 2023 and class of 2024 will be this weekend, as well as a very unique offer Arch Manning received during the week that was made possible by the NIL era.

From the FNN drawer

4/8: Josh Conerly Jr. is headed to Oregon

4/1: Beyond Arch Manning?