This really didnt come from the fact that we play Ole Miss this weekend, my question got sparked from some random sports show I watched Sunday night. I know most of you guys are Saints fans and you seem to really hate Ole Miss so I figured it would be a good question to ask you guys. What do you think of the Manning boys (dad included)? I knew that Archie played at Ole Miss, but I never knew that he played for the Saints. (So that is really my only reason for posting it over here.) So anyhow, I just wondered what you guys opinions were on those guys. I personally love Peyton. Mostly because he was starting in the pro's right when I started to REALLY follow football. So I felt obligated to pull for the most local rookie. And plus Tennessee is probably one of my favorite SEC teams. And I know that Eli is really talented he just seems a little too cocky for me. So this is my attempt at a diversion for the off-week. WAR EAGLE!!
Archie is one nice guy, I have met him and talked with him at length. He even autographed a football for me. He was the grand marshall for our Mardi Gras here in Lake Charles back around 78 or 79. Now Peyton, I can't say I really admire him much. He cost UT several hundred thousand dollars to pay off the female trainer he mooned. That wasn't the only time he showed his butt either. And he ruined his chances of ever being endeared to any Alabama fan when he walked back onto our field and led the Tennessee band in a few more verses of "Crockey Top". Eli painted a bullseye on himself with his GQ pic. That was all the locker room material a few of our defense players needed. We beat Old Myth like a dirty rug. But Eli isn't nearly as cocky as Peyton. I got to see Archie play in college and he was pretty darned good. It was a shame the Saints had him when they did. Archie mostly ran for his life on Sundays. Eli is in about the same situation at Old Myth. A good pass rush will kill him. We certainly didn't help his Heisman numbers. So in answereing your question about what do I think of the Mannings? I really liked meeting Archie, but am not too fond of his boys.
The Manning family has always been held in high regards in New Orleans. They still live here and are great members of the community. They are fine citizens and no one can find anything bad to say about them. The only thing I have against them is the all avoided LSU. Other than that, they are great people. (I think Eli preferred to be the big fish in a small pond rather than the small fish in the big pond)
LSU tried to recruit Peyton, but that is when LSU got Josh Booty (Before he left for baseball) and Peyton said he did not want to go, because Josh was on the cover of SI and what not. Archie is a great guy, his kids are great kids. LSU is just not in their blood, like it is lets say the Kinchen Family. Eli wanted to go where his dad played. To be honest I dont think LSU even recruited him.
That is true TexasTiger, Peyton didn't want to have to battle Josh for the QB spot on the roster. I think Eli was just following David Cutcliff more than following daddy at Old Myth. Peyton didn't want to play at Old Myth because they were either on or just comming off probation and they sucked. How's it going EllisHugh, haven't seen you in a while either.
Once they get to the pros, the college thing seems to dissipate. I don't think Archie would ever have allowed his kids to go to LSU. That was a very heated rivalry back in the day, and I am sure Archie hated LSU and vise versa. I've met all of them and I like them personally. I'll tell you this - I freakin' love the Deuce right about now. I have absolutely no hard feelings toward anyone who chooses not to play for LSU. I might question their judgement, which is obviously poor, but I sure would not personally dislike them. Think about it this way - if Eli would be at LSU right now - I really think LSU would have a shot at the Fiesta. What kind of shot will Ole Miss EVER have at that? None. His national exposure would have been greater, etc. But how could he see that when he was recruited in Dinardo's last year? I think he would have been much better off going to UT. That would have made sense, but not Ole Miss. Ole Miss, like Arky and Miss State, is a second tier SEC team. Sure, they will pull off the occasional upset and cause some trouble within the division, but they do not and will not contend nationally with any consistency. The only SEC west programs that can do that with any level of consistency or predictability is Alabama, LSU and Auburn.
yeah I was fixing to say Eli would have been a great boost to LSU... but no hard feelings toward the Manning Family, I am only 23 but I don't think if I had a son getting recruited by Gerry I wouldn't want him to play for him, that is just my personal opinion, but to me it always seem that Gerry always went after the kids with the grade problems and questionable character (example Larry Foster and Cecil Collins) while Coach Saban tries to get kids with the grades and character issues....just an observation I would make why I might not want my kid to play for Gerry and while I would be beating down Coach Saban's door to get him to recruit my son
Guys, there was an article in "The Advocate" last year about Josh Booty and the influence he had on the decisions of the two Mannings, Peyton and Eli. Now as has already been mentioned above, Peyton did not want to compete with Booty when they came out of HS in 1994. The story also mentioned the same for Eli. Apparently LSU was his top choice, but this was in 1999 and Mr. Booty had just decided to come back to college football. So rather than compete, Eli decided to go elsewhere. Cant say I blame him though, remember all the euphoria that was sorrunding the return of the "prodigal son" Booty in the spring of 1999? I was a student at LSU at that time and could remember the campus buzzing.
I don't think there is any doubt that Archie Manning was the best SEC quarterback of the modern era. It was unfortunate that he was at Ole Miss instead of Alabama where he could have won national championships. If he had gone to a winning program rather than New Orleans he would have reset many NFL records. If he had gone to Pittsburg or Oakland he'd be wearing 3 or 4 Super Bowl rings. He was that good. Archie never had any luck. Peyton is not as good as Archie was. But he was a good college QB who was lucky enough to pick a winner to ride on in Tennessee. He seems to be developing into a fine NFL QB. The story is still out on Eli, although he surely looked good against us last year. He still has a lot to prove, but being at Ole Miss he may never get a shot at All-American. With Archie as 100 and myself as 0, I grade: Peyton = 80 Eli = 55
