Steve Sarkisian addresses growing pains, growth of Quinn Ewers

Quinn Ewers has certainly experienced a lot of adversity in his first couple years as a college football player. Hailed as a top quarterback coming out of his high school class, he committed to Ohio State. But after failing to play much in Columbus, Ewers migrated south to Texas. His addition was quickly forgotten once the Longhorns landed 2023 crown jewel Arch Manning in the current recruiting class.

However, great play from Ewers this season has Texas fans back on board with him as a long-term option under center. Still, despite his exceptional play thus far, Ewers just hasn’t logged the necessary playing time to take the next step. So when he started poorly this past weekend’s game vs. Iowa State, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian didn’t panic, and knew Ewers would progress through the struggles and get back track.

When asked after the game about his QB1’s improved performance as the game vs. ISU progressed, Sarkisian answered he was confident about his quarterback growing through those pains.

“Yeah, I think part of it’s growing pains, you know. Like, when you think about it, that was his fourth career start. And somewhere in here the guy had to be human. You know, he had to miss a couple throws, make kind of a bonehead error of trying to throw a screen away. And you throw it backwards, like it’s okay, here we go, now he’s being normal here for a minute.

“But I give him a lot of credit for for regrouping and getting himself back. I’ve seen a lot of guys in that scenario kind of fold up the tent and and struggle the rest of the day. And I think that he made some throws. We didn’t help him on a couple plays. But I think it shows kind of that mindset that he has. That he doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low. He kind of stays in that even keeled frame of mind. Obviously, there’s things we want to make sure moving forward — that that kind of sluggish start doesn’t happen again for him. And that’s constantly what we’re trying to do as coaches is to tap in to our players.”

Hard to believe Ewers has only started a handful of college games, but that’s the reality. He’s still a very young quarterback. His best days are far in the future. Hopefully, Steve Sarkisian and Texas commit to him over the long haul.