Eli Manning says he toughened up Texas QB Arch Manning by ‘drilling balls’ at him when he was four years old

After years of as much hype as any college football recruit has ever received, Arch Manning’s moment has finally arrived. This weekend, the 18-year-old grandson of Archie Manning and the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning will suit up for the very first time as the newest prized member of the Texas Longhorns‘ quarterbacks room. While Manning is not yet going to start at Texas, the weight of enormous expectations are already upon him — pressure that Uncle Eli tried to prepare him for as best he could.

During an interview with People, Eli Manning recalled his early days of trying to prepare young Arch to play football through a rather Spartan game of catch when he was only four years old.

“I think my first catch with him, he was like four years old — I’m just drilling balls at him and bouncing off so he didn’t cry,” Manning said. “I had to toughen him up and make sure he was tough enough to handle this.”

The son of Cooper Manning and the newest generation of the esteemed football family, the level of hype surrounding what Arch can be for the Longhorns ratcheted up when he was reportedly among the team’s standouts in scrimmages leading up to the season. It’s a lot for any young man — let alone a Manning — to handle, and Eli has made sure to give his nephew advice stemming from his own time in college at Ole Miss.

“Be there, learn from the guys ahead of you, take mental reps during practice and during the games … always being ready to go out there and play,” Manning said, also adding that he told Arch to just enjoy being in college.

The University of Texas marks new territory for the Mannings, whose biggest impact has been on Ole Miss and the University of Tennessee. Arch’s father, Cooper, committed to Ole Miss to play wide receiver before a spinal stenosis condition ended his football career early.