No, ULM doesn’t have any players who beat Texas QB Arch Manning in high school

The bulletin board material from the Warhawks’ defensive coordinator isn’t even accurate.

On Thursday, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian announced that redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning will make his first start on Saturday against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in Austin.

Hours before, the defensive coordinator for the Warhawks, Earnest Hill, drew attention for his comments about his player’s experience of going against Manning in high school.

“We have some kids on our team who played against him in New Orleans, and a couple guys done beat him already,” Hill said. “So, they don’t hold too much fear against him. So, they’re not gonna hold any fear against him coming up here.”

But is it even accurate? Does ULM have players who played against Manning at Isidore Newman and came away with the victory.

According to Austin American-Statesman reporter Danny Davis, the answer is negative.

So not only did Hill have his facts wrong, his Warhawks players are not going to be going against the Isidore Newman offensive line on Saturday. Instead of the group that often left Manning scrambling to make plays, the Longhorns will show up at Darrell K Royal-Texas Royal Memorial Stadium with four returning starters from last season, including star left tackle Kelvin Banks, who is competing to become the top offensive tackle selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The receivers that ULM has to tackle are a little bit faster than Manning’s targets at Newman. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will get them the ball on the move and in space, like he did on junior Alabama transfer Isaiah Bond’s 51-yard touchdown catch from Manning against UTSA on which Bond hit 22.1 miles per hour, making him the fastest player in college football last week.

Bond is arguably the fastest of the Longhorns wide receivers, but he’s far from the only one — Texas will send speed in waves against ULM.

When Sarkisian calls running plays, ULM will have to tackle the freshman running back that Sarkisian’s calls a “baby rhino,” Jerrick Gibson, instead of someone who’s football career was never going to make it past the high school level.

So Hill better hope that he knows more about coordinating a defense, which he’s doing for the first time at the college level this year, than he does about how much success his players had against Manning in high school.

And even if he does, it’s probably not going to go well for the Warhawks on Saturday night on Campbell-Williams Field — ULM is a 44.5-point underdog, according to FanDuel.