Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning has had to pay his dues, both on and off the field. As the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, he’s been subjected to the same kind of sibling bullying that his uncles inflicted on each other when they were growing up.
In an interview with ESPN, Arch revealed that his uncles would often give him wedgies and bully him when he was younger. “Back in the day, Eli and Peyton used to kind of bully me, so it was good, give wedgies and stuff like that,” Arch said. “You just gotta make the younger guy tough. My brother and I, we went through it a little bit, it was good.”
Peyton Manning has also shared stories about the bullying he endured at the hands of his brother Eli. During a segment on ESPN’s “Manningcast” in December 2022, Peyton recalled a time when Eli gave him an atomic wedgie on a golf trip. “I was trying to take a nap, and I was in a corner bed, and he came up behind me, he kind of had me leveraged into the wall, and he gave me a wedgie, he almost went atomic with it,” Peyton said.
Eli has also spoken about the harsh treatment he received from his brother when they were growing up. He has described how Peyton would pin him to the floor and give him intense football trivia challenges, and how he would rip his favorite underwear as a form of punishment.
Arch Manning is set to take over as the starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns in the 2025 season, and he’s expected to carry on the Manning family mantle in the NFL. But with that comes the burden of carrying the family’s tradition of sibling bullying, including wedgies.