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Eli Manningis one proud uncle.
When you’re the 19-year-old nephew of two Super Bowl champions and your high school’s star quarterback, surely there must be pressure — but the retired New York Giants QB tells PEOPLE thatArch Manningis “doing great,” despite having big cleats to fill.
“I’ve just been proud of Arch on how he’s handled this whole situation,” Eli, 44, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I know there’s been a lot of pressure on him, since he was a freshman in high school and was the starting quarterback.”
And while the NFL MVP and the No. 1 prospect won’t compete against each other directly on the field, Eli says there’s still some friendly-family competition between the football phenoms off the gridiron — and naturally, it involves breaking records.
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“He’s broken all my records and Peyton [Manning]’s records, so I don’t know if he needs any more advice from me right now,” Eli says of trying to offer up his QB expertise to his nephew.
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But according to Eli, just because Arch is shattering records — not to mention becomingtheNo. 1 ranked football recruitin the nation — doesn’t mean that his future career in the game is a cakewalk. “Next year, he’ll go off to college and there will be more fights,” the former Giants player — who spoke to PEOPLE as part of his partnership with Quaker to help fight hunger — says.
“It’s all about trying to earn the respect of your teammates, your coaches, have a great work ethic and enjoy the college experience of whatever campus that you’re at,” he continues.
In June, Arch committed to the University of Texas — “a great place,” touts Eli — and will play for theTexas Longhornsbeginning in 2023. “I know he’ll make great friends, great teammates and hopefully win a bunch of football games,” says Uncle Eli. “He’ll have a great college experience.”
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And along with his rising star nephew, Eli, who now hosts a weekly Monday Night Football broadcast with Peyton, says he thinks “the future of football is in great hands.”
“There are so many great players out there, so many terrific quarterbacks,” he says, adding, “You see it every night. I think the games, for the most part, are closer. They are exciting, the plays are good… so it’s safe in that sense.”
source: people.com
