Sugar Bowl

By Trey Iles
 
[This story originally appeared in the Official Game Program for the 12/31/2022 Allstate Sugar Bowl.]
 

When quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence squared off in the College Football Playoff National Championship in January 2020 in the Superdome, they already knew plenty about each other. And not just from watching either other from afar.
 
During the summer of the of 2019, both served as counselors at the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux at Nicholls State University. Burrow led LSU to the national title over Lawrence and Clemson in that game, for which the Allstate Sugar Bowl had coordinated the hosting effort. A few days later, Burrow was honored as the winner of the Sugar Bowl Committee’s Manning Award, given to the nation’s top collegiate quarterback following the season.
 
But Burrow, who led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl last season, and Lawrence, now the Jacksonville Jaguars’ quarterback, weren’t the only high-profile signal callers working the 2019 camp. The counselor roster included Jordan Love, then at Utah State and now with the Green Bay Packers; Justin Hebert, from Oregon who now leads the San Diego Chargers; Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama then and now the Miami Dolphins quarterback; and Kenny Pickett, then with Pitt and now with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
 
The 2019 MPA counselor roster is more the rule than the exception. Pictures from the camp bring a who’s who of All-American and Pro Bowl quarterbacks. One memorable shot features camp counselors Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes and Mason Rudolph sitting together during a session. Another shows Eli Manning pursuing Josh Allen in a drill in a merging of NFL eras.

“Someone looked at the NFL depth charts a couple of years ago and two-thirds of them had been here as counselors,’’ Archie Manning said.
 
In addition to high-profile counselors, the campers have included sons and grandsons of NFL owners, general managers and head coaches. And many of the campers have gone on to become counselors when they found collegiate stardom.
 
The Manning Award isn’t the only Sugar Bowl connection with the camp. Chances are the quarterbacks of the Sugar Bowl teams competing in the annual game have been to Thibodaux the summer before performing as counselors.
 
The Manning Passing Academy, founded by Sugar Bowl Committee member Archie Manning in 1996, always brings the nation’s top collegiate quarterbacks to Thibodaux each summer. It’s what helps to make it arguably the premiere passing camp in the nation.
 
“It’s been so much fun,’’ Manning said. “They (the counselors) have so much fun together and it’s a big part of our camp. The (campers) who come love them then they go back home and follow them all season. And the college players have such a good time together.’’

The last few years, Manning, who runs the camp along with sons Cooper, Peyton and Eli, has had 45 collegiate quarterbacks as counselors each year. He said what helps is that Peyton and Eli commit time to spend with them in the classroom and on the field.
 
“That’s been a win-win and a huge part of our success,’’ Archie Manning said.
 
Manning said Thibodaux, located about 60 miles Southwest of New Orleans, is the perfect spot to host the camp. The camp hosts about 1,200 participants each year and the Nicholls State facilities are large enough to accommodate all the campers and the workouts without having to split time or bus campers around.
 
Vic Lafont, the president and CEO of the South Louisiana Economic Council, works with the Mannings to put on the event.
 
“Archie calls me his third-and-long office,’’ Lafont said. “When they don’t know what to do, they call me.
 
“We are so blessed to have them here. We have the favorite father of football. We have two Super Bowl winning quarterbacks (Peyton and Eli). And they could go anywhere in the country. The campers and their families are coming from all over the country, even Canada. It’s a big economic boom for us. At the same time, Nicholls is able to tell the story of what a good university it is to these visitors. Maybe these folks will remember this little town and send their kids to school here. It’s been a win-win for everyone.’’
 
Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said the quality and caliber of the quarterbacks the Mannings bring to their camp each year is a testament to their accomplishments and expertise.
 
“Each year, it seems that we have quarterbacks playing in the Sugar Bowl that have some familiarity with Louisiana because they helped out at the Manning Passing Academy,” Hundley said. “And the outstanding quarterbacks that we’ve had the privilege to honor with the Manning Award are almost always alums of the camp. We’re proud of all of those connections.”
 
The Manning Passing Academy was actually Peyton’s idea, Archie said. It began in 1996 and was borrowed, in part, from a camp Bobby Bowden and his sons put on during the summer, a camp that Peyton attended one summer while still in high school at Isidore Newman.
 
In the early 1990s, most Louisiana high school football teams still preferred the run over the pass. Archie said Peyton took note of that, perusing the stats on Saturday mornings and noticing that some teams would only go, say, 1-for-6 passing.
 
“He just thought we could help more with that,’’ Archie said.
 
Peyton attended the Bowden Camp at Samford University in Birmingham before his high school junior year in 1992.
 
“He came back and said, ‘Daddy we need to do that,’ ‘’ Archie said. “We can help these kids in Louisiana, the wide receivers and quarterbacks, with mechanics, teaching them how to work out, throwing.’’
 
So in 1996, Archie launched his camp at Tulane University with the help of then Green Wave football coach Buddy Teevens and Tulane administrative assistant Jeff Hawkins. Those two still assist the Mannings in running the academy.
 
“Bobby (Bowden) said he loved his camp because it guaranteed him four days with his boys,’’ Archie said. “I said that sounds pretty good."
 
The first camp had 185 participants and four college players who were counselors. That included Peyton, then heading into his junior year at Tennessee, University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) quarterback Jake Delhomme, USL wide receiver Brandon Stokley and Northwestern State University quarterback Bo Meeks, who was the head football coach at Airline High in Shreveport before stepping down due to health reasons last spring. Meeks continues to assist in the MPA. Eli was a camper for the first three years while at Newman and before heading to Ole Miss.
 
“One reason we’ve been successful is Cooper, Peyton and Eli have never missed one minute of camp,’’ Archie said.
 
The camp has grown in reputation and numbers exponentially. It has run every year since 1996 except for 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Archie’s phone rings frequently with college coaches and quarterbacks who want to be a part of the camp.
 
“I kind of have a problem in who to invite,’’ Archie said. “I’m kind of a softie. When someone wants to come, I really want them to come. I like to get the top 10-15 quarterbacks in the country. I’m a little partial to Louisiana and Mississippi. And I’ve always been partial to the SEC. But I like to have some small college guys. The last two years we had a quarterback from Wabash College [Liam Thompson] and last summer a guy from Mary Hardin Baylor [Kyle King]."
 
Archie said when the 2023 registration opened last summer 750 players signed up in the first week alone. He said he’d like to have two camps but that would be tough.
 
“That’s a lot to ask to have Peyton and Eli here for that amount of time,’’ Archie said. “But this is something, as a family, we certainly enjoy and get a lot of pleasure from. It’s something we look forward to each year."