Steve Sarkisian impressed by Texas quarterbacks in first fall practice

Even in the blazing Austin heat, Steve Sarkisian got fall practice underway on Wednesday. Texas faces a huge season, their final one in the Big 12. Going out with a conference championship is the goal and a lot will rely on how quarterback Quinn Ewers performs throughout the year.

Reports on Ewers through spring and then summer were encouraging ones. Even if you would expect that of him heading into Year Two as the starter, the signs have to be there.

Well, the positivity has carried over into the fall, coming straight from the mouth of the head coach. Sarkisian called Wednesday one of Ewers’ best practices since he arrived on the 40 Acres — dating back to spring 2022.

“I thought the pass game was really good today,” Sarkisian said. “I thought Quinn played really, really well, one of the better practices he’s had since I’ve been here… The intent felt right. The focus, the communication was really good. I thought the pass game was really good, which you’d like it to be on days like today when you’re not in pads.”

Sarkisian was not just talking about Ewers when giving a practice summary, though. Everyone is excited about the future of Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning. While they will spend all of the 2023 season as a backup to Ewers, their developments are important to Texas.

“I thought Maalik and Arch both took strides from spring to training camp, which was really encouraging,” Sarkisian said. “I was proud of the work they did.”

Steve Sarkisian explains why Quinn Ewers looked sharp on Wednesday

It would be easy for Sarkisian to say Ewers was good and leave his assessment at that. But he decided to explain further, explaining why the second-year starting quarterback had a stellar day. For the most part, Ewers sounds like he is more comfortable in his role than he was maybe a year ago.

“I just think the ball was coming out timely,” Sarkisian said. “When we got a little off-schedule, he moved really well in the pocket and kept his vision up downfield. Was able to make throws off-platform on the move, which was something that we’ve really been working on in the offseason coming off of last year. When things weren’t there, he was finding completions and he was finding checkdowns. Inevitably, it was a clean practice for him.”

Ewers needed to improve the mental side of being a quarterback heading into the year as well. Sarkisian described him as “quick” when processing the field, protecting the ball well.

“There weren’t forced throws,” Sarkisian said. “He wasn’t throwing it into coverage. He didn’t get stuck holding the ball because he didn’t know where to go with it. It just felt like he operated at a high level.”

Ewers was not always operating at a high-level last season. Outside of the Alabama first quarter and his performance against Oklahoma and there was no consistency. Not too many interceptions per se. But he was not able to distribute well enough, especially downfield.

Sarkisian will be hoping a full offseason changes things for Ewers. Never make defined assumptions based on one fall practice. However — so far, so good.