Anonymous opposing coach says Texas could be 'scary good' if Quinn Ewers improves

Much is expected of Texas this season in the program’s third season under Steve Sarkisian. However, even with all of those expectations in mind, one coach thinks that it’s all going to come down to what Longhorn QB Quinn Ewers does with the keys in Austin.

In Athlon Sports’ annual preview, one anonymous coach believes that Ewers can be the catalyst on The 40 Acres this fall. With how the offense is going to shift now that Bijan Robinson is in the NFL, they believe Ewers can elevate the Longhorns to another gear considering the talented weapons in Texas’ receiving corps.

“They could get scary good if Quinn (Ewers) plays the way he’s capable of,” the anonymous coach said. “They’re really close to connecting it all on offense and playing up to that standard of a Sark team.

“Losing Bijan is a serious blow, no doubt. But this is the kind of scheme and the kind of roster where you just adjust to the other talent; you don’t try to fill a hole,” they continued. “There’s so much talent there at tight end and receiver that they’re going to burn some teams.”

Ewers, after being as highly-touted of a quarterback recruit as we’ve seen in recent memory, came back to the Lone Star State last offseason after spending some time in Columbus with the Buckeyes.

In 2022, Ewers started in 10 games for Texas while missing several games due to injury. On a positive note, he still threw for 2,177 yards and 15 touchdowns with some flashes of his potential mixed in. Even so, he also completed just 58.1% of his passes last season while also throwing six interceptions.

All in all, it was a solid foundation for the young quarterback. Still, in general, it lacked the extra ‘oomph’ that many wished to see from him last fall.

Now, with Texas’ rushing attack completely reset, Ewers is their offense in 2023. He has a coach in Sarkisian that can get the most out of him. He’ll also have the weapons across the field as well in Xavier Worthy, Ja’Tavion Sanders, and Isaiah Neyor. The only question left is what kind of player he’s going to be in his second season and, in turn, what kind of impact he can make for them offensively.

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Ewers: Texas has ‘turned it around’ ahead of 2023 season

Year two for Quinn Ewers at Texas is a big one. He’s the Longhorns’ starting quarterback once again this fall. Now, expectations are high as they prepare for their last year in the Big 12 before departing for the SEC.

The offseason will help set the table for that opportunity. Ewers sounded more than happy about how things have gone during the Manning Passing Academy held at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, LA.

“I think our culture’s only been building the past couple years,” Ewers said. “I think we’ve really turned it around this year. We’re a lot more player-led than we were the past couple years. Obviously, we had great leaders as players the past few years. But I think as a whole, we kind of are leaning on each other a lot more than what we’ve [been used to] doing. I couldn’t be more excited about what’s going to happen this year, and we’re all really confident.”

The Bengal Tiger’s Shea Dixon and On3’s Justin Rudolph contributed to this report.