What Quinn Ewers being in the 'best shape of his life' means for Texas

As a one-time college baseball player, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian understands what “best shape of his life” means.

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The five word phrase is often thrown around during MLB spring training to describe a player who redoubled his efforts during the offseason to arrive ready for the rigors of the season. It’s to indicate the player means business, which occasionally implies that element was missing during the previous year.

So when Sarkisian was on Greg McElroy’s “Always College Football” podcast and described quarterback Quinn Ewers as being in the best shape of his life, much of what’s associated with “BSOHL” rang true.

“Quinn has had a great offseason, and in my opinion, it really started in December in prepping for the bowl game,” Sarkisian said. “I thought he prepared really well. He played really well in the bowl game. We didn’t play great around him. That continued into winter conditioning and spring ball. He’s been fantastic in the summer. He looks great. He’s in the best shape of his life.”

A Twitter post from fellow UT quarterback Maalik Murphy backed up Sarkisian’s claims. Ewers, listed by the program at 6-foot-2, 204 pounds, did not look out of place standing by the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Murphy or even 6-foot-4, 212-pound Arch Manning. Both Ewers’ backups were chiseled following offseason strength and conditioning, but Ewers was no slouch in the physique department himself. He utilized dumbbells for an extra pump.

A look at Texas’ QB room entering 2023… What are they feeding Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning?! 🫣 pic.twitter.com/ZFfnGgARZC

— College Football Report (@CFBRep) June 30, 2023

The physical development, and not the cosmetic kind regarding hair, was an important step for Ewers to take ahead of 2023. It reveals the seriousness with which he took the offseason.

That seriousness was needed after an up-and-down 2022 campaign. Sarkisian described Ewers’ 2022 as a freshman season considering the unique details of his brief time spent at Ohio State in 2021 preceding his transfer.

Freshman years are often filled with challenges, especially for players at the quarterback position like Ewers. The game came very easy to him at Southlake Carroll. The same could not be said for extended stretches of his first season in Austin.

“Inevitably, there was a big learning curve for him about the game, the speed of the game, the nuances of our offense,” Sarkisian told McElroy. “And sometimes when you don’t know all the nuances and you don’t know all the answers, that can make you feel a little less urgent because your brain is trying to work and your body is trying to slow down to keep up with the brain.”

Even last year, Ewers said there were moments he thought he had it all figured out. One of those times was following his evisceration of the Oklahoma defense. That probably felt like when he was 37-for-41 for 450 yards and six touchdowns versus Trinity in the 6A playoffs during his junior year.

But as some of his second half performances revealed and as he admitted in December, “there’s so much more to it.”

In Sarkisian’s mind, Ewers currently has a far better grasp of the necessary aspects for high-level quarterback play and what the “much more” No. 3 described entails. Ewers was named the starter coming out of spring practices, even with Murphy and Manning in the room with him (Sarkisian told McElroy the position group is talented and is a group that “works really hard and works really well together”).

Ewers’ own drive led into Sarkisian’s decision.

“Quinn is really coachable, and he’s always been very coachable from the day he got here,” Sarkisian said. “That’s helpful when you don’t get that resistance. Quinn is ultra-competitive like every great quarterback. He wants to be the best player he can be.”

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Much of Texas’ 2023 potential depends upon Ewers’ play. Gone are Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson, the engines of the Longhorn offense in 2022. Returning is every other offensive starter, plus Georgia transfer AD Mitchell.

The run game may not have the same effectiveness as it did last season, meaning the passing game featuring Ewers, Mitchell, Xavier Worthy, Jordan Whittington, Ja’Tavion Sanders, and other may end up as the catalyst for the Longhorn offense this season.

An offseason spent by Ewers getting into the “best shape of his life,” both in the physical sense and in the sense associated with the phrase, has Sarkisian believing Ewers will be able to meet the demands of the position during his second season in Austin.

“I think his understanding of what we’re trying to do and why we’re doing what we’re doing has allowed him to play more urgent,” Sarkisian said. “I think the details and the minutiae of the position is something he sees value in now, and he’s really putting in the time to make it all come together.”