Arch Manning says Peyton and Eli gave him wedgies and bullied him to make him tougher

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning has the privilege of coming from one of the most respected families in football, but he has also had to pay his dues along the way. 

The 19-year-old phenom, who is set to finally take over as a starter in the 2025 season, said he has been bullied by his famous uncles, Peyton and Eli, and they have even given him wedgies. 

“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 during an interview with ESPN on Thursday. “You just gotta make the younger guy tough. My brother and I, we went through it a little bit, it was good.” 

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As the nephew of Peyton and Eli, and the son of their brother Cooper, Arch is expected to carry on the famed Manning mantle in the NFL. With that also comes the burden of carrying the Manning family mantle of sibling bullying, including wedgies.

Peyton shared a story of how Eli gave him a wedgie while on a golf trip, during a segment on ESPN’s “Manningcast” in December 2022. 

“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 insisted, “it was atomic.” An atomic wedgie is classified as one in which a person’s underwear is pulled above the victim’s head or higher. 

“I was about to be asleep, I was so angry, basically, because the nap was interrupted, but the atomic wedgie was like an added bonus,” Peyton continued. “He was so proud, we almost threw down, but I was in pain and I couldn’t fight to well.” 

Eli added that he ripped Peyton’s favorite underwear in the incident. 

Meanwhile, Eli has, on multiple occasions, described the harsh treatment Peyton instilled on him when the two brothers were growing up in Louisiana. 

Prior to playing in Super Bowl XLVI in early 2012, Eli shared the story of how Peyton would pin him to the floor and give him intense football trivia challenges. 

“I probably have quite a few of them, but to limit it to one — his most popular move, he would pin me down and take his knuckles and knock on my chest and make me name the 12 schools in the SEC (Southeastern Conference). I didn’t know them all at the time, but I quickly learned them. It was a great learning technique. I don’t suggest anyone else try it out, but it definitely made me learn the schools of the SEC,” Eli told reporters. 

“Once I figured those out, he moved on. There were 28 teams in the NFL at that point, so all teams in the NFL. I had to get my studying on for that. Then once I figured that out – the one I never got was the 10 brands of cigarettes. When he really wanted to torture me and knew I had no shot of ever getting it, that’s when I just started screaming for my mom or dad to come save me, or maybe Cooper. That was his go-to move.”

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