USA Football

OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI - - Archie Manning acknowledges that winning championships wasn’t a mark of his high school days, nor of the prep careers of three of his sons, including Peyton, currently with the Indianapolis Colts and Eli, presently with the New York Giants.

But the experience he and his sons gained on the high school level was invaluable and is something Archie Manning said he would never want to replace.

“High school football is one of the greatest institutions in our country,” Manning said. “You have your small schools and your large schools. I got to play football at every level. There were some great memories. I had two or three high school coaches and they all had a great influence on me.

“They were patient and worked a lot with on my passing and footwork. High school is a key time in a young person’s life when they’re physically and mentally developing.”

The 1978 NFL MVP with the New Orleans Saints and a two-time Pro Bowler played his varsity high school football at Drew High School in Mississippi. He started playing PeeWee football in the fifth grade as a running back and later moved to quarterback.

Archie started at quarterback as a sophomore, but fought off many injuries. He was successful enough as a senior to be offered several football scholarships, including at Ole Miss, where he decided to play after graduating from Drew in 1967.

“Drew was a small school right in the middle of the state of Mississippi,” Manning said. “It was a town of 2,500 with about 48 people in my graduating class. There were 12 schools in our conference. We were in the middle of the pack. My senior year, we were 5-5. We probably had no more than 25 guys out for football. Then with injuries and everything, we wound up with about 16 by the end of the season.

“When I was going to Eli’s games at Ole Miss, one of my older high school coaches watched the games with me. I try to keep up with my coaches.”

All three of Archie’s sons wound up playing their high school ball at the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. 

“It was a small, private school, not a big program,” Manning said. “When the boys were there, they were picking things up a bit. It was a real strong academic school. It was academics first. And the coaching was good. For a small school, they had quite a few kids go out for football.

“There were a lot of Division I picks coming out of there. It was a great program.”

Cooper, Archie’s oldest son who did not play professional football, was a standout wide receiver during his high school days. When he was a senior, Peyton was a sophomore and was starting at quarterback. Both brothers made the all-state team that season. In 1992, Cooper was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, which ended his playing career.

Manning has some key advise to high school players interested in a pro career.

“The best advise I cold give them is that you have to take care of your classwork,” Manning said. “It depends on how hard you work at it. You have to be in the weight room. You have to work a lot on your own. You just can’t wait for summer practice.

“Being in high school football is a great experience. My advise to kids is to have fun. I taught my boys that more than anything else, they were to have fun.”

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Parents can nominate youth football coaches at all levels online at ResponsibleSports.com through December 7, 2007.  One coach from each state will receive $500 cash grant from Liberty Mutual.  Winners will be announced in December 2007.

To nominate a Responsible Coach click here.

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.