Quinn Ewers is still a big unknown at Texas entering 2023 season

The expectations are as high as they’ve been in a while in Austin as the Texas Longhorns enter their third season with head coach Steve Sarkisian at the helm. Sarkisian has steadily improved the team’s record in his first two seasons, but many are expecting a breakout year in 2023 with Big 12 Championship and even College Football Playoff aspirations.

Quarterback Quinn Ewers will have a major role in the Longhorns’ success this year, and on ‘The Hard Count’, On3’s JD PicKell answered a fan question that asked if Ewers can put it together this upcoming season.

“When you look at this Texas offense, what Texas could be is scary for the rest of college football,” PicKell said. “Like all weapons they have, Xavier Worthy, AD Mitchell, Isaiah Nayor, who we haven’t really even seen hit the field just yet because he was injured last year, but a lot of juice around him and what he could be. Ja’Tavion Sanders, like there’s a lot there on the Texas offense to make good on in the pass game.”

There’s no doubt that on paper, the Longhorns have more offensive firepower than they’ve had in quite some time. But the success of Texas’ plethora of offensive weapons will be largely dependent on Ewers’ ability to deliver.

“And if Quinn Ewers can be a consistent version of what we saw against Alabama before he got hurt, a consistent version of what we saw against Oklahoma, then you unlock the rest of that potential on the roster. You unlock the rest of that potential on the offense,” PicKell explained. “The way I look at this Texas offense, it’s like a Ferrari, you’ve just got to be able to put gas in it with Quinn Ewers.”

Ewers had a solid sophomore season for the Longhorns, ending the year with 2,177 yards, 15 touchdown passes, and six interceptions on a 58.1% completion percentage. He earned honorable mention honors for the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year award last season, but according to PicKell, consistency will be his key in 2023.

“You’ve just got to be able to turn it on, because if Quinn Ewers is inconsistent, and I know it looked like at least he was dinged up at times last year when it came to the Oklahoma State game. There’s people that said he had a hand injury, don’t know how much is true or isn’t true there. But the bottom line is he threw 30 incompletions against Oklahoma State on the road. The offense really had issues getting going when he wasn’t completing passes, just kind of the nature of the beast,” PicKell said.

Oklahoma State was by far Ewers’ worst game of the season last year, completing just 38.8% of his passes and throwing half of his season’s interceptions in Stillwater.

He played much better to close out the season, but this year he’ll be without star running backs Bijan Robinson and Roschone Johnson, which could require a leap in his production given Texas’ offensive system.

“Now the RPO scheme, you still want to run the football and that’s going to be a big piece of what they do offensively, but it’s a complimentary system,” PicKell said. “You run to pass, and then when you’re throwing the football well it also sets up the run game, this isn’t rocket science. If Quinn Ewers ends up being consistent and puts it together like our good friend Quinn Truther is asking here, then they’re going to be in good shape.”