Steve Sarkisian breaks down Quinn Ewers handling pressure in 2022

Quinn Ewers has only played seven games at Texas and his play is already being broken down ad nauseam — the cost of doing business as an elite quarterback recruit. Ewers has at times lived up to his tremendous billing and others like the redshirt freshman he is, and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian thinks he’s doing just fine in his development.

One area that Ewers will continue to improvement, Sarkisian said, is his play when pressured and blitzed. Sarkisian noted other things the Longhorns can do to help Ewers out while also highlighting how the quarterback can help himself going forward.

“Yeah, I think he’s done well,” Sarkisian said. “There’s always going to be plays where he’s — we want it to go better. I think it’s twofold. One, we have to make sure we’re protecting at a high level, that’s the first part. And then two, I think there’s an awareness level for him on where are those throws, based on the concept that we have, that are those blitz-beater throws.”

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To Sarkisian’s first point, Texas has been pretty solid up front based on raw statistics. The Longhorns are Top 50 nationally for fewest tackles for loss allowed and are tied for No. 21 nationally in sacks allowed with 12 total in 10 games.

As for Ewers taking the blitz beaters, Sarkisian made clear that they’re not trying to challenge a defense deep to punish them for blitzing. It’s often a simple dump off pass designed for a skill player to do the work.

“And sometimes they aren’t always down the field. Sometimes they’re the short, intermediate throws where there are catch and run opportunities,” Sarkisian said. “And that’s all part of the growth and maturation process that I think he’s evolving into. You see him take advantage of it at a high level at times. And you see other times when we don’t.”

But Sarkisian sought, again, not to pin it all on the young quarterback.

“But I think it’s not all on him, that way. I think everybody’s awareness has to be heightened when blitzes occur, whether it’s protection, route running, him throwing the ball on time and accurately, so that we can take advantage of it,” Sarkisian said.