Eli Manning Admits He Made Last Second College Commitment Change

Before he was a Hall of Fame candidate and well before he was a two-time Super Bowl champion, quarterback Eli Manning was putting up historic performances at Ole Miss from 1999 to 2003. But there was a moment just before the start of his college career where he might have gone to a different school entirely.

Appearing on Bussin' With The Boys, Manning revealed that he was leaning towards the Texas Longhorns due to then-Ole Miss head coach Tommy Tuberville jumping ship for Auburn. He said that he liked the idea of being coached by Mack Brown based on how good the team had looked.

"I was probably going to Texas," Manning said. "Mack Brown was the head coach, and they were kind of rocking and rolling there. Ricky Williams was gonna be leaving; he was in his senior year. Was gonna go to Texas and then David Cutcliffe - the Ole Miss staff, Tommy Tuberville and their whole staff, left Ole Miss, went to Auburn."

The Turning Point

However, the decision that pushed Ole Miss ahead of Texas wound up being the man they hired to replace Tuberville: David Cutcliffe. He pointed out that Cutcliffe had been his brother Peyton's offensive coordinator at Tennessee and knew him well. Manning said he was impressed by how much work Cutcliffe did to recruit him.

"That's when David Cutcliffe came in, who was Peyton‘s offensive coordinator at Tennessee," Manning said. "And so, knew coach, Cut a bunch, went to football camps at Tennessee, liked him, liked his offense, so he kind of brought me back in. And it's like, you know, was on a mission to sign me, and that's kind of what got me to change from Texas and go back to Ole Miss."

It wound up being a great move for Manning. During his 2003 season he led the Rebels to a Cotton Bowl win Oklahoma State and their highest AP ranking since 1969 en route to going No. 1 overall in the draft several months later.

Texas didn't exactly suffer from Manning snubbing them either. Between 2001 and 2009, Texas never had fewer than 10 wins in a season and won a national title with Vince Young in 2005.

What might Texas have become in the early-2000s if Manning had gone there instead?

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This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 4:51 PM.