Steve Sarkisian explains balancing head coach duties, quarterback work
Steve Sarkisian served as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for most of his coaching career and played quarterback for BYU. Heading into his second season as the head coach at Texas, Sarkisian explained his philosophy on balancing his head coaching duties with training Hudson Card, Quinn Ewers and the other Longhorns quarterbacks.
“It’s a real balancing act,” Sarkisian said in a press conference on Tuesday. “The one thing that I’ve always tried to hold on to, we all work our way up in the ranks in this profession. We all have an area of expertise. We grow and we expound on that expertise. I’d be remiss if now that I’m a head coach, I just didn’t talk to the quarterbacks anymore because I have to manage the team, that’s the one thing I think I’m pretty good at.
“But I have a lot of faith in (AJ) Milwee, this is our fourth year together. We speak the same language. I do try to go to just about every quarterback meeting. When we’re on the field, I don’t stand right next to the quarterbacks the whole time. I stand in the back and if I need to convey a message, I do. … Clearly, that’s my expertise and as the play-caller, I have a really good understanding of what that quarterback needs to be doing.”
Sarkisian definitely had mixed results while playing two quarterbacks last year. However, he has a history of successful quarterback development from Carson Palmer at USC to Mac Jones at Alabama.
Sarkisian on working with Quinn Ewers to control arm strength
The Texas Longhorns face lofty expectations in year two of the Steve Sarkisian era and great quarterback play is key to meeting those standards. The former Alabama offensive coordinator brought in former five-star prospect Quinn Ewers to give returner Hudson Card a heavy dose of competition.
This spring, Sarkisian has worked with Ewers personally, using his quarterback coaching roots to his advantage. The former Buckeyes freshman showed early and often in high school that he had a cannon, but the Longhorns head coach is working with him to balance power with finesse, accuracy and consistency.
“I always remind him, ‘What’s the goal when we call a pass play?’ ‘To complete the pass,’” Sarkisian said to the media on Tuesday. “You want to have enough tools in your toolkit to get the ball completed. That may be different arm angles, different trajectories, or different velocities on the ball. It’s one thing to have the tool to have the big arm, but the really good quarterbacks show touch, arm angles. I think Quinn has that. He’s shown the variability to make throws when we need it. I don’t think he shows off his arm that much – he’s a passer, not a thrower.
Sarkisian also shared that he showed the whole quarterback room tape of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan on Monday Night Football. The goal was to show how he takes command to get his wide receivers lined up and show leadership.