It clearly pays to spend big in the college football world.
A recent report from The Athletic uncovered that the Texas Longhorns football program spent $280,000 in 48 hours on a recruiting visit for 10 prospective players in June.
As you can guess, one of those players was No. 1 overall recruit Arch Manning. The visit paid off as Manning and his high school teammate, three-star tight end Will Randle, both committed to the school within days of their official visit.
Texas spent nearly 280k on a visit for Arch Manning and eight other recruits, per @TheAthletic ?
The visit included a dinner buffet, Top Golf and an ice sculpture ? pic.twitter.com/ncnA9yVeRd
— Pickswise (@Pickswise) September 17, 2022
The expenses covered:
Airfare
Cars
5-star hotel
Parents’ open bar
Custom cakes
Topgolf
An ice sculpture
Lake cruise
In June, Arch Manning made an official visit to Texas, along with 9 others.
The school spent $280,000 in 48 hours, per @TheAthletic:
▪️ Airfare, cars
▪️ 5-star hotel
▪️ Parents’ open bar
▪️ Custom cakes
▪️ Topgolf
▪️ An ice sculpture
▪️ Lake cruiseArch committed 3 days later. pic.twitter.com/kYljMKcBsM
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) September 16, 2022
Twelve of the 14 recruits that visited the following weekend—when the school, according to The Athletic, spent almost $350,000—committed to Texas. In all, The Athletic reported that 16 of the 23 combined recruits that visited over the two weekends landed with the Longhorns.
LSU, Georgia, Alabama, Clemson and Virginia were among the programs Manning was considering before choosing the Longhorns.
His father, Cooper, and grandfather Archie both went to Ole Miss along with Eli. Peyton attended Tennessee.