Quinn Ewers details on-field connection with Xavier Worthy, Ja'Tavion Sanders

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers will be without one of his biggest weapons in the Valero Alamo Bowl with star running back Bijan Robinson declaring for the 2023 NFL Draft. But he’ll still have two of his top receiving targets in tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders and wide receiver Xavier Worthy, both of which he’s built a great connection with in his first season as the Longhorns quarterback. Ewers spoke about his connection with the two, starting with Sanders, which actually dates back before the two arrived in Austin.

“Me and JT we’ve known each other even before coming to Texas together and we’ve thrown a couple times before we got on campus and even in practices we’ve just built a great connection,” Ewers said.

Sanders was a five-star prospect in high school out of Denton, Texas, just a little over 30 minutes away from Ewers home town of Southlake. He spent his freshman season mainly helping the Longhorns out on special teams, but blossomed this season as Texas’ starting tight end.

Ewers fed Sanders this season, as he ranked second on the team in receptions this year with 49 along with 577 receiving yards, both of which ranked No. 1 in the Big 12 amongst tight ends. He also added five receiving touchdowns to his stat line this season and earned first-team All-Big 12 honors from the conference and the Associated Press along the way.

Sanders was undoubtedly one of Ewers’ favorite targets this season, but his go-to guy was Worthy, who ended the regular season with the most touchdown receptions in the Big 12 with nine scoring grabs. Their connection has been on point all season, and while preparing for the bowl game, the duo kept things simple and fine-tuned their skills.

“And you know with X, we kind of went back to basics. Like we were talking about before, these bowl practices you really just kind of get that feel back whether it’s deep balls or just short game and stuff like that,” Ewers said.

Worthy was one of the most dangerous and explosive players in the Big 12 this season, earning second-team all-conference honors at wide receiver and also serving as the Longhorns’ primary punt returner. Like Sanders, he too is only a sophomore, but has already played in and started in 24 games for the Texas in his young career.

The young three-headed monster of Ewers, Worthy, and Sanders have the potential to be key difference makers not only in the Alamo Bowl versus Washington on Thursday, but in the future as well for the Longhorns moving forward.