by Austin, Texas – On a day when all the hype and anticipation surrounded Bow Manningthe debut of the Texas Longhorns, Quinn Ewers managed to elicit the loudest applause. Ewers faked game action, took his fall, hit his last pitch and lobbed an arcing ball towards the left touchline, which fell perfectly into the hands of Xavier Worthy.
The crowd went crazy.
So often a year ago that combination was just a little off. Ewers may have knocked over his star receiver. Worthy may have dropped the pass. There were no connection issues Saturday during the Texas spring game, which lines up with what people have been saying all offseason in Austin: Ewers look different. Of course, the mullet once synonymous with him is gone. But so is the extra weight of freshman year. Ewers looks healthier, fitter, even happier.
“Quinn looks completely different this year,” Texas defensive lineman Byron Murphy said earlier this week. “Her maturity, the way his body looks now. The plays he’s doing. He’s just smart.
That faith in Ewers seems to have permeated the entire Longhorn program this offseason. So much so that head coach Steve Sarkisian said the quiet part out loud after the spring game.
“I think it’s pretty clear to say that Quinn is our starting quarterback,” Sarkisian said.
There is no debate between Ewers and Manning in 2022.
Manning probably won’t even be Texas’ backup as no one left the spring game with their stock up over the second-year QB Malik Murphy. But all the other quarterback questions only matter in the worst-case scenario of Texas, because that’s Ewers’ team. He proved that during an effortless spring performance he saw him finish 16 of 23 with 195 yards and a touchdown.
Taking too much from a spring game would be foolish. These are set up for quarterback success. But it’s still notable that Ewers started the game 16-for-21 with two of those five fumbles due to falls.
Speaking to the media for the first time since the 2022 Alamo Bowl, Ewers acknowledged that he walked out last season with a need for change.
Ewers briefly went supernova in flawless efforts against Alabama and Oklahoma. Then things got tough for the former No. 1 recruit. 1 ever. He completed 38.8% of his passes in a loss to Oklahoma State. TCU held him to 43.6% passing. Texas lost its chance at a Big 12 championship, in part, due to Ewers’ freshman year inconsistency. That crackling late-season effort and an exit conversation with Steve Sarkisian forced Ewers to reflect on himself.
He needed to eat better. She needed to focus on the little things. She needed to change.
“I wasn’t where I wanted to be last year,” Ewers said. “I feel like I let most of the fans down. I don’t want to be in that situation this year.”
Ewers’ spring performances will ultimately count for little in his career trajectory. But his engagement is representative of how people on the show talked about Ewers throughout the offseason. Last fall camp, Ewers, who was indeed a true freshman at the time, was locked in a hard-fought battle with Hudson paper. One year later, he’s the undisputed starter atop one of the most talented room QBs in the country.
Ewers said after the spring game he knew he had to adjust the way he approaches the sport to get where he wants to go, and those on the Texas program seem to believe he can take the team there.
“He’s really put himself into the weight room,” Sarkisian said. “His diet, nutrition, his general understanding of the offense. I think it shows. He looked very comfortable today. It’s not having a real game plan to get into the game. You’re just putting on shows at a spring game. I think it will be even more involved when we have a real game plan and what we’re trying to attack to go after people.
I think he will be a more confident player, one who will instill confidence in his teammates, his coaches and our entire organization that, ‘Hey, ‘This is our boy.'”
