Marshall Manning warms up at QB for Baylor School football
Marshall Manning, son of legendary QB Peyton Manning, warms up during Baylor School’s (TN) season opener against Brentwood Academy on Aug. 20, 2026.
- Marshall Manning, son of Peyton Manning, made his varsity debut for Baylor School.
- The freshman quarterback played two snaps in a planned appearance during the team’s win.
- Baylor’s head coach intends for Manning to play in every game this season to gain experience.
CHATTANOOGA, TN — On a team loaded with future college stars and five-star talents like Tennessee running back commit David Gabriel Georges, another name has commanded the headlines just as a much as the Baylor School senior running back.
Freshman Marshall Manning, the son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, transferred to the Chattanooga program in eighth grade with his future laid out as the eventual starting quarterback of one of Tennessee’s premier private school powers.
On Thursday, Aug. 20, the nation got to see the younger Manning earn his first ever varsity action in his backup role for the Red Raiders. While it may have just been two snaps and may have come as a shock to everyone watching the ESPN2 broadcast of Baylor’s 38-20 win over Brentwood Academy (TN), those two snaps were in the cards leading up to the game.
They also won’t be the only two snaps Marshall experience this season.
“We planned it,” Baylor head coach Erik Kimrey said following the win. “I want Marshall to play in every game this year, even if it’s just two plays like that. Hopefully it’ll be a lot more. We need him next year and he needs to be ready.”
Marshall serves as the backup to senior and Ole Miss four-star commit Keegan Croucher, a transfer from Connecticut.
With Baylor up 10-3 midway through the second quarter, Croucher started the Red Raiders’ drive but after a few scrambles, stayed on the sideline.
Marshall entered the game and on his very first snap, rolled out to the right and found four-star 2028 athlete Anwtaun ‘Cornbread’ Adams for a Baylor first down.
Manning would hand the ball off to Gabriel Georges on the next play and Croucher would return to lead the Red Raiders on their second touchdown-scoring drive of the evening.
Knowing his role as the starter for the Red Raiders in his only season with the program, the future Ole Miss Rebel had no issues releasing the reigns a bit to his freshman backup.
“That was the plan and the kid is going to be a beast,” Croucher said. “He’s only 15-years-old and he works so hard. We have a really cool relationship where we’re hard on each other and we old each other accountable in practice.
…we have a really good bond together and I can’t wait to watch him win in the future.”
For Kimrey, letting Marshall play was just the standard in what he’s done since he took over at Baylor in 2022. No matter the game, even if it was a rematch of the 2025 Division II-AAA championship airing on ESPN2 in front of thousands, he was letting backups play in certain situations.
It may not reflect on the scoreboard now, but for the future it could pay off in a major way.
“You guys that have covered us before know that I always let our backups play in non-region games,” Kimrey said. “Usually a drive but I didn’t want to do that tonight. We planned the plays he was going to run and he went in there and did a good job.”
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