Clemson football: The main competition for 5-star QB Arch Manning

The Clemson football coaching staff rolled out the red carpet as 5-star QB Arch Manning made his way to town earlier this week for his first unofficial visit.

Manning, who is rated as the No. 1 quarterback in the 2023 class, is beginning a run that will include visits to several schools as he looks to take the next step in advancing his recruitment, which most believe won’t be coming to an end for quite a while.

Manning threw during Dabo Swinney’s Football Camp and the Manning family visited at Swinney’s house following the session. He received an in-depth tour, which included spending time in Death Valley, and officially became the first offer on the offensive side of the ball by Clemson.

247 Sports’ Steve Wiltfong said the visit “set the tone” for Manning’s recruitment and there have been numerous reports following his time in Clemson that the Tigers made a great first impression and things are looking good here early in the process.

"“I think that Clemson set the tone for what a visit school and football program should look like to Arch Manning,” Wiltfong said. “This is a young man who’s been on some college campuses in the past. He’s been to Ole Miss, of course. He’s participated in some team activities with Isidore Newman over at LSU. But this was his first ever college visit as a prospect because of the pandemic, obviously. He goes to Clemson and I think him and his family had an outstanding experience. They were on campus for about 26 hours, and it was action-packed."

The main competition for Clemson football in the Arch Manning sweepstakes

We’re going to hear all kinds of things- as we did with Trevor Lawrence- as Manning’s recruitment progresses.

As we see it right now, though, Clemson football is going to be in the mix until the very end.

So, what programs will the Tigers be competing against? Though Manning hasn’t made any type of finalists list yet, there is a consensus on who the top teams are, including Clemson:

• Alabama
• Texas
• LSU
• Georgia

He has been to Ole Miss before, so there is also interest in the Rebels, and there may be a few schools who will make a run and could potentially get involved if everything went right- ie. Tennessee, Ohio State, Stanford- but these are the top five schools that we would peg as the favorites right now.

That’s stiff competition and there’s no doubt this is going to be a highly-contested recruiting battle.

Each school has their own allure, but the things Clemson needs to focus on most are culture and that family atmosphere that sets it apart from the rest.