After rushing his "entire life," Quinn Ewers is relishing his time as Texas' quarterback ahead of the 2024 season

When the Longhorns’ 2023 season ended with a game-ending incompletion against the Washington Huskies in the College Football Playoff, Quinn Ewers had played and started in 22 of a possible 27 games in his Texas career. He then had a choice to make in early January: declare for the NFL draft or return to Texas?

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His decision, one he said he didn’t make until that week following the Sugar Bowl, was to come back to Texas.

“The main thing for me was getting more experience,” Ewers said Wednesday, also admitting that choice was the one he had been leaning toward for some time. “I had some people put together a pretty good chart. Obviously the more you play and the more experience you have, the better you end up playing and succeeding in the NFL. I just wanted to put myself in a better spot to be able to succeed at a high level once I hopefully get there. Just more experience.”

That’s something Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian alluded to in February when discussing the topic, indicating that was part of the Longhorns’ pitch to get Ewers to come back and lead the UT offense during the program’s first season in the Southeastern Conference.

But there was also a more personal reason behind Ewers coming back, one that dates to when he was initially ranked as a “generational” prospect during his sophomore and junior seasons at Southlake Carroll. He wanted to enjoy one more season as a Longhorn, one more season with his teammates, and one more season playing football at the college level.

“I feel like I’ve been rushing my entire life,” Ewers said. “Just take a year, slow down, and not rush things. I skipped my senior year, that went by fast. I was at Ohio State for a semester or so, that all went by fast also. Just take my time throughout the whole process, enjoy being here. Being present and not looking too far forward.”

Amidst all the serious topics, Ewers was also in a joking mood on Wednesday. He was asked what he had done to improve his durability considering he’s missed five games due to injury during his previous two seasons.

“Obviously, got to put more weight on,” Ewers said. “I think I was just a few pounds too light last year. I probably played every game around 200. (I’m) around 205, trying to get up to 210 right now. It’s got to be good weight. It can’t be that mullet weight I had back when I was 220.”

All joking aside, Ewers returns to the Longhorns after a 2023 campaign where he was 272-for-394 for 3479 yards with 22 touchdowns over six interceptions. Those are impressive numbers to try to improve upon, something he and backup Arch Manning will have to figure out how to do with a mostly new receiver corps.

Johntay Cook, Isaiah Bond, and Matthew Golden are stepping in for Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, and Jordan Whittington. So far, Ewers said he’s built good rapport with all those players. But as a leader, he knows he’ll have to build bonds with everyone like he did last season.

Those bonds were part of the Longhorns’ motivation to win the 2023 Big 12 Championship, and part of what brought Ewers back to the 40 Acres.

“It definitely provides motivation for not just me but all these guys and these coaches also,” Ewers said. “It was a great year. Probably my favorite team I’ve ever been a part of. Just the relationships that we had, whether that had been me with receivers, and it’s cool because it carried on over to the defense. I had awesome relationships with the D-linemen and the linebackers, the safeties. You know you’re going to have a good team whenever you can just go hang out with anybody.”

There’s a ton of room for development for Ewers. Not only did slowing down in order to live in the moment factor into his decision to return, but so too did the crowded quarterback class. Ewers justifiably believes he could end up as a top tier quarterback, but that might not have played out in 2023’s draft with Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, and J.J. McCarthy all part of this year’s class.

To do that, he’ll need to advance his game further as he remains with the same program for one more year. That’s a task he believes he’s well on his way toward achieving.

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“I’ve grown a whole lot in every aspect of quarterbacking,” Ewers said. “My first year, the wheels were turning pretty fast. Last year, it slowed down. Now, I can really play the quarterback position how it’s supposed to be played this year, I feel like.”