How Arch Manning's top speed for Texas football was calculated — and why it went viral

If Texas quarterback Arch Manning had been running through a school zone Saturday, he might have been eligible for a speeding ticket.

Reel Analytics, a sports technology company that uses video to extract athleticism data, clocked Manning at 20.7 miles per hour during his 67-yard touchdown run after he replaced the injured Quinn Ewers in the 56-7 win over UTSA at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

Soon, a viral comparison graphic between Manning and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill was plastered all across social media. Hill, famous for his speed, topped out at 20.3 mph in the first two games of the NFL season.

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"To put that Tyreek Hill thing into context, Arch had a 67-yard run where he was essentially untouched," Alfonzo Thurman, the COO at Reel Analytics, told the American-Statesman this week. "He was able to get to his true max speed. ... We know Tyreek Hill has reached 23.24; that was his fastest mph. So, no, Arch is not faster than Tyreek Hill.

"It's a little misleading, but, hey, it's good social media clickbait."

However fast Manning ran, it was fast enough

Here's what's not clickbait: Manning's speed, for a quarterback, is legit.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound nephew of concrete-legged NFL legends Peyton and Eli Manning ranks in the top quartile of all the quarterbacks in Reel Analytics' database when it comes to speed, according to the company's CEO, Cory Yates. That database has more than 17,000 players spanning all levels of football.

"When the adrenaline kicks in, it helps you run a little bit faster," Manning said Saturday night. "I credit that to Torre Becton, our head (strength) coach."

Turning analysis of quarterbacks into a science

Both Thurman and Yates, who started Reel Analytics in 2019, support their business acumen with a background in football. Thurman played linebacker at Indiana, where he earned All-Big Ten recognition, and Yates played — and briefly coached — at Texas A&M-Commerce.

Having worked with programs such as Michigan, Georgia and TCU over the past five years, Thurman and Yates interviewed more than 120 college coaches and player personnel staffers when they started their business and found minimal interest in quarterback athleticism data. So they didn't develop as many ways to harvest quarterback metrics as they did for other positions, where a player's processing ability isn't always as important.

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"When we interviewed coaches and talent evaluators in 2019, they said, 'Hey, don’t prioritize that; don’t worry about that,’” Yates recalled. “‘We want to get them in person. We want to talk ball to see what’s in between the ears.’ ”

But the game evolved, and with that evolution came a change in demand.

Now, coaches and talent evaluators are heavily interested in a quarterback's speed metric, Yates and Thurman said.

For example, coaches called over the offseason to verify the speed of Dequan Finn, a quarterback who was clocked at 21.8 mph last season at Toledo before entering the transfer portal and choosing Baylor.

Manning's speed, now more than ever, matters. That he reached 20.7 mph is more than just a fun social media nugget.

It's a game changer.

"Talent evaluators absolutely want to know: Can this player offer us a competitive advantage, a matchup advantage, if he can make plays with his legs?" Yates said. "So the max speed is valuable. If you were to ask those same coaches and talent evaluators five years ago, they would say, ‘Yeah, we’re not that interested in it,' because they told us that. Now, they’re like, 'Hey, can you verify the speed,' especially for transfer portal prospects."

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Arch Manning's top speed went viral for Texas football. Here's why