Ahead of his final year in a Big Green uniform, quarterback Grayson Saunier ’27 spent four days over the summer at the Manning Passing Academy, an annual workshop for middle school and high school quarterbacks looking to improve their game.
At the Academy, collegiate quarterbacks serve as counselors and coach participants alongside Eli and Peyton Manning, two iconic NFL signal callers who created the Academy in 1996 to help train the next generation of football talent. Held in Thibodaux, Louisiana at Nicholls State University, the camp draws the most elite quarterbacks the NCAA has to offer every year, but is also distinctly tied to Dartmouth: Late football head coach Buddy Teevens helped found the camp with the Manning brothers when he was the head coach at Tulane University. Teevens remained heavily involved with the Academy until his passing in 2023.
Saunier sat down with The Dartmouth to discuss his time at the Academy, tips for up-and-coming quarterbacks and how coaching at the Academy deepens his connection to the Big Green.
How did you get involved with the Manning Passing Academy?
GS: The Manning camp is awesome. I’ve been a part of it the past two years, and it’s been so much fun. It goes on in South Louisiana, about an hour and 45 minutes away from my home. I went to the camp as a kid too, and kids are just there to have a good time and learn from the college players and the coaches. Dartmouth sends one quarterback every year because Coach Teevens founded it. His in-laws are still very involved with it, so I got to know them very well, and they’re huge Dartmouth people. Peyton Manning and them are always saying the kids aren’t here to get scholarships or offers — they’re just here for the experience. It’s up to us as the counselors to really just show them and teach them. Even if they remember one thing from the camp, we just want to make sure they have fun and everyone gets reps. Just to say, “Arch Manning coached me” or “Julian Sayin coached me,” I know it’s special to them. I still tell everybody I got coached by Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow when I was a camper, so to be on the other side of things was a really cool experience.
Dartmouth is a long way from Louisiana. How did it feel to get back to playing football where you grew up?
GS: It’s such a cool experience to be close to home and give back to the community. This past year, they gave me a group of kids from Louisiana, so all the kids I was coaching were from a 100-mile radius of where I’m from. I saw myself in their shoes, and it was really cool just to be around the community again for the second year.
What did you focus on teaching the kids during the camp?
GS: When you’re younger, you really think that it’s the big plays that matter, like you have to score the long touchdowns and you have to make the big runs. Obviously, that’s important, but one thing we focus on with the kids is the fundamentals and the small things, like your footwork or your play action fakes, things that you think college coaches aren’t looking at. They’re things you have to keep correcting and getting right. We’re trying to teach that if you can get the short passes and the medium passes consistently, the big things will take care of themselves. That’s something we usually harp on.
The list of quarterbacks that participated this year is basically the preseason Heisman frontrunners list. What sort of relationships did you form with the other college players at the camp?
GS: I think the first year I coached at the camp it was a little bit more intimidating. I remember being there and kind of just being in the back, trying to hold my own. I was a little bit worried because we had throwing sessions once a day, where we’re doing the workout with Peyton and Eli. I remember throwing alongside those other guys who have huge arms. But, once you really get into your groove, it’s not a competition. It’s really more just slinging it and encouraging each other.
Coming back from the camp the first year, I thought that I’m right up there with those elite college QBs. They’re all good dudes, and when I got back the second year, I remember already having those relationships with those guys, and it was really cool. I had some really cool roommates the past two years. The year before I roomed with Rocco Becht, who’s now at Penn State, and Demond Williams, who’s at Washington. This past year I roomed with Arch Manning and Steve Angeli. All these guys just want to kick back and sling the rock a little bit for the weekend, which is really cool to be a part of.
Heading into your senior season, what does participating in an event like this and representing Dartmouth on a bigger stage mean to you?
GS: Anytime you get to go somewhere else other than Hanover and represent Dartmouth and what we have here, it’s so special. Wearing the “D” on my shirt and having the older guys come up to me and tell me stories about Coach Teevens — they all have such great things to say about him as a man, and because it the Manning Passing Academy meant so much to him, it means so much to them — is always a privilege, and it means a lot.
Carrying into this season, I think just that this is it: I have eight more guaranteed games with my guys. It’s definitely been a long road. You look back and say, “Dang, dude!” It feels like yesterday I was a freshman, and now I only have eight more guaranteed weeks with my best friends. There’s times when you have to take yourself outside of the moment and really just be at your feet. Whatever’s meant to happen is going to happen, and the sky’s the limit for us. I’m excited.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
