Steve Sarkisian details Quinn Ewers' comeback, reveals when he knew he was ready

Texas got its starting quarterback, Quinn Ewers, back for the Red River Rivalry after he had been out since the middle of the Alabama game in Week 2. His presence made quite the difference for the Longhorns as they proceeded to hand Oklahoma one of its worst losses in school history, a 49-0 thumping of the Sooners.

Obviously, Ewers looked 100%, which begged questions about whether Texas coach Steve Sarkisian used a bit of gamesmanship earlier in the week when he was hesitant to reveal his starting QB’s status. But Sark says no, that he evaluated Ewers on Monday and thought he was improving, but didn’t know for sure he would play until later in the week.

“Well, you know, Hudson [Card] hasn’t been healthy either. And every week was kind of a little bit of a juggling act of what this was going to look like going in to every game. And I could kind of feel it on Monday that both guys were actually feeling better,” said Sarkisian following the OU win. “But, you know, I know everyone thinks this was the plan all along or something. I didn’t notify Quinn or Hud of what was going to happen this week literally until Thursday afternoon you know. So that’s how long I took.”

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So Sarkisian says he didn’t have a final decision until the last day of practice last week. Part of why he took so long to make a decision was due to the mental aspect of missing time at the QB position. Sark also revealed that he worried about Ewers catching up to speed mentally as well as physically.

“The hardest part about not playing quarterback is not the physical part. It’s the mental part. It’s the nuances in our system. You know, we change tempos quite a bit. We huddle, we shift, we motion, you know. We go fast, we do a lot of different things that don’t seem like much outside. But in our world, they’re big deals. And sometimes, those are the hardest things to get mastered when you’re coming back off. And I thought as the week went on, Quinn was much more dialed into it and it showed.”

It did indeed. Lastly, Steve Sarkisian finished by complimenting both of his quarterbacks for being ready to perform when their number was called.

” I credit both of them for the work of dialing into it and being there for one another and pushing one another and staying connected. So in the end, he was ready and that’s why we did what we did.”