Steve Sarkisian compares Quinn Ewers to Matt Leinart

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian started his coaching career in 2000, and for the past two plus decades has coached a pool of some of college football’s best quarterbacks. This made it hard for him when he was asked who his freshman phenom quarterback Quinn Ewers reminds him of out of the quarterbacks he has coached in his career.

“I think skillset wise he’s different, they’ve all been different going back to Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Mark Sanchez, John David Booty, Jake Locker, Cody Kessler, Matt Ryan, Tua (Tagovailoa), Mac Jones, they’re all different,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve all got a different skillset, a different personality.”

As Sarkisian went down his laundry list of quarterback talent, he may not have found a quarterback from a skillset perspective that reminded him of Ewers, but he did land on one name that was reminiscent of his current QB from a demeanor standpoint.

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“I will say that Quinn reminds me of, the one person is Matt Leinart. The moment was never too big for Matt, I always referred to him as a cool customer, and I kind of think Quinn’s got a lot of that in him as well,” Sarkisian said.

Ewers has looked cool as can be in his limited snaps so far in his career, fresh off of a 289-yard, four-touchdown performance against Oklahoma in just his third collegiate start.

“He performs at an optimum level when most people might get a little tense or tight, he just remains calm and executes what he’s supposed to go do,” Sarkisian said.

Ewers has a long way to go before catching up to the legacy of the former Heisman Trophy winner, but has definitely started his career off on the right foot as he and Sarkisian look to bring the Longhorns back to being a national powerhouse once again.

What stands out about Quinn Ewers to Steve Sarkisian

Texas head coach got a stellar performance out of his freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers in his first game back from a week 2 injury in their dominant 49-0 win over rival Oklahoma. Sarkisian spoke about his quarterback, and what truly makes him special, especially for his age and limited game experience.

“I think there’s a couple things that stand out to me with Quinn, one he’s just a natural passer,” Sarkisian said. “I know that sounds like a broad scope, of course a quarterback’s a natural passer, but I think that when he throws the ball the feel of pass comes naturally to him.”

Ewers did look like quite the natural against the Sooners, throwing for an impressive 289 yards and four touchdowns, career highs in both categories of his young career.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s a game plan thing or it’s robotic like he did something in training with his quarterback coach, he’s just dropping back, feeling the coverage, feeling the our route, and he’s throwing the ball and he throws people open,” Sarkisian said.

Ewers performance Saturday was definitely impressive, but according to Sarkisian, what Ewers has going on from the neck up is just as impressive.

“So that’s the first part, I think the second part with Quinn that’s relatively unique for a guy that’s only played about nine quarters, he’s very calm,” Sarkisian said. “I don’t ever feel like the moment’s too big for him and he’s been in some pretty big moments already in his career with Alabama here, Red River game. He just seems very calm, very clear minded, there’s not a lot of clutter up there.”

It sounds like Ewers checks all the boxes in the eyes of his head coach, and hopefully for the Longhorns, he can continue to impress and potentially lead them back to the national power that they once were.