Austin, TX
Analyzing how Texas QB Arch Manning shined in the Orange-White game
AUSTIN, Texas — What a difference a year makes.
The anticipated burnt orange and white debut of Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning in 2023, weeks after the heir to football’s royal quarterback family completed that year’s recruiting cycle as the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country, was never set up for Manning’s success.
Competing against returning starting quarterback Quinn Ewers and Maalik Murphy in his second spring on the Forty Acres, Manning was relegated to third-string snaps in last year’s Orange-White game, playing behind an offensive line made up of walk ons and early enrollees and throwing to walk ons and early enrollees. Manning finished 5-of-13 passing for 30 yards, mostly settling for making plays with his legs.
On Saturday, however, in the 2024 edition of the Orange-White game with Manning taking over for Ewers late in the first quarters with head coach Steve Sarkisian planning to limit the reps of his starting quarterback, Manning came out firing, hitting sophomore wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. on a 75-yard touchdown pass.
“That’s why I put Quinn and Arch on the same team — I wanted Arch to be able to just go play football. He hadn’t really played in a year,” said Sarkisian after the scrimmage.
With the help of the first-team offensive line and Sarkisian’s top wide receivers — outside of early enrollee Ryan Wingo, as it turned out — Manning led five scoring drives with his lone blemish coming on the final play, a hail mary on a play snapped with one second remaining that was intercepted near the goal line. The redshirt freshman finished 19-of-25 passing for 355 yards passing and three touchdowns. Another would-be touchdown went off the hands of junior Alabama transfer wide receiver Isaiah Bond in the first half and two more incompletions came on the final drive when Manning opted against putting the ball in danger against strong coverage.
On several occasions, Bond made up for that aforementioned miscue, elevating for a catch on a throw that Manning made under duress and then temporarily taking the lead for the White team with a little over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when Bond beat press coverage to the boundary and Manning hit him for another 75-yard touchdown on a go route.
The play design on Manning first’s touchdown made the throw more simple for the young quarterback, who faked a screen to the boundary, holding the single deep safety, while a switch route helped Moore break open on a coverage miscue by either junior cornerback Terrance Brooks, who carried the new inside route, or junior nickel back Jaylon Guilbeau, who played the curl without carrying Moore with the running back flaring to the flat.
Still, Manning showed off his textbook mechanics and timing by hitting Moore with a beautifully-throw pass.
In a similar vein, Bond was set up for success on his long touchdown catch with a one-on-one matchup against senior cornerback Gavin Holmes as the X receiver to the boundary — normally a field cornerback not tasked with playing press coverage because of his dearth of height and length at 5’11, Holmes failed to jam Bond at the line of scrimmage and the Alabama transfer is too fast to catch from behind.
Still, Manning made the simple and clear pre-snap read with the single deep safety shaded to the field and ensured that Bond had a chance to score by hitting him in stride.
As Manning completed his first 10 passing attempts on Saturday before twice failing to connect with Bond, the touchdown pass to Blue illustrated a key area of growth for Manning, who has a tendency to use his athleticism to escape the pocket and make a play with his legs instead of with his talented right arm.
“The biggest thing I saw from Arch was something that we kind of really harped on with him about a week and a half ago about just dial into playing the play, keep your eyes up,” said Sarkisian.
The Texas head coach spoke publicly in his final media availability before the Orange-White game about Manning’s improvement from the second scrimmage to Tuesday’s practice in precisely that area — staying in the pocket and maintaining the eye discipline to find passing targets breaking open.
On the pass to Blue, it came behind strong protection and on a rather late-developing route — out of the backfield, the electric Texas running back looked like he was going to run a wheel route before breaking it inside against senior linebacker Mo Blackwell, winning easily into space.
With Manning non-contact in the practice, Sarkisian admitted that Manning was likely frustrated at times with his quick whistle to blow plays dead, but when plays did develop, Manning made the right decisions.
“When he keeps his eyes up and steps up in the pocket, he can deliver those balls down the field the way we like to play and so it was good to see, it was good to see some of the guys around him play with him the way that they did,” said Sarkisian.
The small things stood out, too. When Manning needed to check down because the downfield options in his progressions weren’t open, he check down. When Manning needed to deliver screen passes, he did so on time and on target to allow the intended receiver the best chance to make yards after the catch. When he identified a cushion provided by the defender in coverage, he converted those opportunities.
And despite all the typical caveats about a quarterback’s performance in a spring game, Manning left no doubt that his trajectory is on track to play at a high level when Ewers moves on to the NFL after the 2024 season.
After all, a year can make all the difference.
Imagine what another year can do for Arch Manning.
“We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with the team at NRP and our focus on the Affordable Housing market in
The transaction represents Safehold’s second transaction with NRP in
Safehold established a dedicated Affordable Housing team in 2025 and has continued to expand its investment into the sector. Additional information is available at www.safeholdaffordablehousing.com.
About Safehold:
Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Having created the modern ground lease industry in 2017, Safehold continues to help owners of high quality multifamily, affordable housing, office, industrial, hospitality, student housing, life science and mixed-use properties generate higher returns with less risk. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT), seeks to deliver safe, growing income and long-term capital appreciation to its shareholders. Additional information on Safehold is available on its website at www.safeholdinc.com.
About The NRP Group:
The NRP Group is a vertically integrated developer, owner, builder, and manager of best-in-class multifamily housing with a mission to create exceptional rental housing communities for individuals and families, regardless of income. Since its founding in 1994, NRP has developed more than 62,000 apartment homes and currently manages over 30,000 residential units. Through its disciplined approach to vetting opportunities, NRP has established a track record of delivering impressive returns for investors. The company’s formidable size and depth of talent provide the experience and infrastructure necessary to execute developments of varying degrees of complexity and scope in both urban-infill and suburban locations, including market-rate, affordable, mixed-income, and senior housing. The NRP Group has been consistently named a largest developer and builder in the U.S. on the NMHC “Top 50” lists, the Top 5 on the Multi-Housing News’ “Top Multifamily Developers” list, named a Top Affordable Housing Developer by Affordable Housing Finance, and has won three NAHB Pillar awards since 2020 for Development, Construction and Ones to Watch. The NRP Group has become the top multifamily developer in the U.S. that creates both affordable and market-rate housing at a national scale. Based on over 30 years of experience and expertise, NRP provides construction and property management services to outside owners and developers. For additional information, visit www.nrpgroup.com.
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/safehold-closes-second-affordable-housing-ground-lease-in-texas-302809796.html
SOURCE Safehold
AUSTIN (Nexstar) – During a Texas Senate Business and Commerce hearing Wednesday, lawmakers heard invited testimony examining soaring property and casualty insurance costs. Testimony focused on the need for more affordable options and the need to address the role of AI.
Increased costs
Amanda Crawford, the Commissioner of Insurance at the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), acknowledged the reality of rising insurance costs for everyday Texans.
“The past few years have been very, very difficult. The average annual homeowner premium in Texas has increased from under $2,000 in 2020 to over $3,500 today. It’s a 79% increase in six years. That is a tremendous burden for Texans, especially for a necessary product like home insurance,” Crawford told lawmakers Wednesday.
Crawford went on to clarify that this increase can be attributed to increases in home values and claim costs related to severe weather.
“Annual homeowners’ losses averaged 5.5 billion from 2015 to 2020, rising to 9.1 billion from 2021 to 2025.” Crawford went on to say that “Last year alone, the National Weather Service recorded 902 hailstorms in Texas. The next closest state, Kansas, had 375.”
Holding insurance companies accountable
Crawford clarified that the TDI requires insurance companies to elaborate on their filings to ensure that Texans are not subject to unfair practices and prices.
“My expectations are that every rate filing submitted to TDI gets a careful review. We examine every statutory filing for statutory compliance. We verify the math, we scrutinize assumptions, we make them show their work”
According to the Texas Insurance Code, the rate review process conducted by the TDI does not explicitly focus on affordability.
“There is not a purpose in there around affordability. It is about driving market competition. It’s about making sure they’re not excessive, but then they’re also adequate. And it’s about having market forces drive the rates that are filed. So I think that’s an interesting perspective when you look at it, because that really frames the whole rate review process as it has been put into law.”
Insurance company officials say they are also focused on affordable costs.
“Our industry is not just saying, hey, legislators go fix all this. We are working all the time to bring down costs. It’s a good business decision because it helps us be more competitive,” said Scot Kibbe, the Vice President for State Government Relations at the American Property College for Insurance Association.
Concerns of price surveillance
Senator Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, questioned whether insurance companies may be using technological advances, such as AI, to participate in price surveillance, a tactic to maximize profits.
“It sounds like, to some extent, every industry, with the advent of technological advantages we didn’t use to have, is able to create a special price just for you to find out your breaking point,” Johnson said.
David Bolduc with the Office of Public Insurance Counsel noted that there are protections in statute against companies charging different prices for the same coverage. But he added that the practice can be difficult to detect.
“I don’t know that TDI has the ability to monitor that. I mean, we hear about it,” Bolduc said in response to Johnson. “I think, if you could do something in statute that would allow us to report it, or would allow TDI to take action about it, that might be useful in terms of monitoring it,” Bolduc added.
Earlier this month, the TDI released a “use of artificial intelligence” bulletin to set expectations on how “regulated entities will govern the development, acquisition, and the use of AI technologies in their operations.”
Crawford says this bulletin will help address price surveillance concerns by reminding companies of Texas Insurance codes related to unfair discrimination and deceptive practices.
“That’s one of the reasons for putting out the AI bulletin, the expectations and the consumer protection around the use of that data, and what they are using that for,” Crawford said.
Potential solutions
Bolduc called on lawmakers to reexamine AI’s role in the industry. He also asked lawmakers to look into making coverage changes more transparent.
“It might be useful to continue looking for ways to be transparent about coverage changes. Notices of material change don’t seem to be working particularly well in the sense that we get a lot of phone calls from people saying they don’t understand what happened to them,” Bolduc said Wednesday.
Billy Crocker, Senior Vice President of Alliant Insurance Services, says the best way to fix pricing is to drive up competition between insurance companies.
“I think creating a lot of competition is the best way to drive this down, both for personal and business lines,” Crocker told lawmakers. “And then that brings the opportunity for access.”
Austin, TX
Forman Capital Provides $28.2 Million Lot Development Loan for a 253-Acre Mixed-Use Project Near Austin, Texas
Forman Capital, a leading private direct commercial real estate lender, has closed a $28,204,026 lot development loan for The Highlands, a planned 253-acre mixed-use community located along Manzano Mile at FM 1431 in Marble Falls, Texas, located on the edge of the broader Austin MSA. The borrower and developer is Rockspring, a Texas-based real estate firm with more than three decades of experience across the state’s most dynamic growth markets.
The Highlands stretches along Manzano Mile, encompassing single-family homes, rental apartments, and retail commercial uses on undeveloped land. The Forman Capital loan will fund horizontal development in advance of vertical construction, which will be performed by other developers and builders, and is expected to start in the fall.
The Forman Capital team that worked on the transaction includes Scott Mehlman, Ty Regnier, Brett Forman and Ben Jacobson.
“Forman Capital has always been drawn to developers who are doing something meaningful — not just building but genuinely adding real value to a community. The Highlands does exactly that, bringing much-needed housing and amenities to a city that has grown faster than its supply could keep pace with. We are proud to support Rockspring’s vision here,” said Brett Forman, Forman Capital Managing Partner.
“Marble Falls and the 71 Highway corridor are benefiting from the same powerful tailwinds driving growth across Texas, with the added advantage of a quality-of-life profile that is attracting both residents and businesses,” said Scott Mehlman, Forman Capital Partner and Chief Investment Officer. “The Highlands is exceptionally well-positioned to meet that demand, and we look forward to seeing this community take shape.”
About Forman Capital
Delray Beach, Florida-based Forman Capital provides private commercial real estate debt and equity financing for transactions ranging from $10 million to $100 million. The firm focuses on short-term construction financing, mezzanine debt, and preferred equity across various real estate asset classes and geographies. Company principals Brett Forman and Ben Jacobson have closed more than $3 billion in commercial real estate transactions since 2004. For more information, visit www.formancap.com.
-
News25 minutes ago
Federal judge halts Trump’s election executive order seeking to create a federal voter list
-
Los Angeles, Ca2 hours agoBoyle Heights warehouse cleanup begins as crews face 85 million pounds of spoiled food
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoWould Detroit Lions Salary Cap Be Wrecked If Terrion Arnold Gets Cut?
-
San Francisco, CA2 hours agoTwo more Presidio Heights homes reach $10M range as luxury supply dwindles
-
Dallas, TX2 hours agoOne Dallas Cowboys Contract That Will Age Poorly in 2026
-
Miami, FL2 hours agoLive updates: Today’s South Florida News
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoA federal judge in Boston has blocked parts of Trump’s order to limit voting by mail
-
Denver, CO3 hours agoDenver Transplant Games sets Guinness World Record for most living donors, recipients in one place at one time
