Arch Manning reveals key to his Texas football improvement: 'More fun.'

Arch Manning didn’t have fun the first half of last season. His words. He played ticked off.

The result? Not good. Manning wobbled out of the gates in his first season as the Texas starting quarterback.

The critiques and hot takes came from all corners. He went from being the best college quarterback since Tim Tebow to college football’s first-ever flop — that’s how the New York Times described it, in a piece worthy of the Hyperbole Hall of Fame — in a matter of weeks. Penthouse to outhouse at warp speed.

Through five games, Texas had two losses. Manning’s performance, while not terrible, was nowhere near what we’d expected from a blue-chipper with the most famous surname in college football. Someone with Manning’s pedigree surely had undergone countless media trainings and mental coaching to try prepare him for the pressure, and he probably also picked up on a few family tricks via osmosis, but I’m not sure any amount of prep work could have fully prepared him for the hurricane of scrutiny he faced.