I don’t know anything about Eli Manning, It’s possible that he’s dumb as a brick. However, I’ve found that the stereotypes associated with college athletes aren’t always accurate.
For example.. Until about 18 months ago, I wondered how Georgia Tech could field competitive sports teams. After all, GT doesn’t offer maths less advanced than calculus and even the weakest of majors require two semesters of the stuff. The athletes don’t get special treatment from the profs, and they have to compete with the science/engineering folk in their C-curved core classes.
Then I met an attorney who teaches a special topics class once per year on a pro-bono basis for the computer science dept. The dude has no neck, looks like a freight train, but is sharp as they come. He played football for Tech in the 70s, graduated with a CS degree, went to Mercer, ended up on law review, and served as moot court captain (commandant? I don’t know what the proper title is.)
Obviously this example may not be indicative of the college athlete pool as a whole, but I’m willing to give Mr. Manning the benefit of the doubt.