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Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers endured more adversity last season than any other time during his football career.
Ewers was a highly covered 5-star recruit at Southlake. He was an All-American selected to participate in the 2022 All-American Bowl. After transferring from Ohio State, Ewers was expected to be “the man” at Texas. Mullet Mania became a thing among the fanbase. Some fans believed he would be this program’s best quarterback since Colt McCoy. And, damn it, Ewers lived up to those expectations toward the beginning of last season.
He completed 9-of-12 passes for 134 yards in the first quarter against Alabama before leaving due to injury. We will never know if Ewers would have led Texas to a win against Alabama, but it sure seemed like the Longhorns were destined to pull off an upset with him at quarterback. Ewers returned a few weeks later and led Texas to a 49-0 victory against Oklahoma. He completed 21-of-31 passes (67.7 percent) for 289 yards and a career-high four touchdowns during the Red River “Smackdown.” Ewers was seemingly a “made man” after that win. He was living up to the hype. The majority of Longhorn observers viewed him as the savior of this program.
However, Ewers never anticipated what would happen next.
“I've never really had a season like I did last year in my entire life,” Ewers said.
Training camp begins on Wednesday
A few position battles are remaining.
However, the success of this year’s Longhorns depends on one thing.
The transformation of Ewers this offseason.
Let us go back to what occurred after the win against Oklahoma.
- Ewers had a QB rating under 100 twice after Oklahoma (97.7 against Oklahoma State and 75.3 against TCU).
- He threw three interceptions during a loss against Oklahoma State.
- He threw for only 107 yards and one touchdown against Kansas.
- He failed to throw a touchdown pass in two games (TCU and Baylor).
- His longest completion last season was 49-yard hail mary to Casey Cain before a loss against Washington in the Alamo Bowl.
Ewers took a long look in the mirror after last season.
He did not like what he saw.
Ewers never struggled like this before last season. He went from a guy who could make every throw in high school to a quarterback who completed 58 percent of his throws at Texas (seventh out of eight Big 12 quarterbacks who played in at least 75 percent of their team’s games). Ewers started listening to the critics on social media. It was an eye-opening experience for Ewers.
“Going through those ups and downs was a little bit tough for me,” Ewers said. “But at the end of the day, I learned a whole lot that I'm able to take with me this year and apply that.”
What did Ewers learn?
1. Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian encouraged Ewers to get rid of the mullet.
“At the end of the day, hey, I was 18 years old, too,” Sarkisian said. “I probably didn't have a haircut my mom loved every time I walked out of the house. You're trying to find yourself. I have 120 18- to 22-year-old sons. They're not perfect. They're all different. They’re all trying to find their niche. All trying to find their way of life. We all listen to different music. They all dress differently. Everybody's trying to figure it out. In the end, my message to Quinn was don’t let your appearance precedes you. Because I think sometimes people see a mullet, people see a beard, and there's this perception of what he must be, when in reality, Quinn’s a great teammate. Quinn's extremely coachable. Quinn’s a really good student. Quinn works in his craft. He works hard, he runs hard, he lives hard.
“Don't let your mullet your beard and procedure what the perception of you is. Let people truly see who you are, and I think that resonated with him and his family. He’s had a really great offseason. I think that that was just the beginning of it. But in the end, he's much more than the mullet and the beard. I think that now that that's removed, we're starting to find out more about him.”
2. Ewers decided to get serious about working out, eliminated the extra body fat, and changed his diet.
“I really focused on my body and just trying to get as healthy as I could before the season starts and I haven't felt it's healthy in a while,” Ewers recently said. “I'm pretty far along.”
“Well, I think a couple of things about Quinn that stood out to me from last year as you go back and kind of assess last season,” Sarkisian said. “He came back for the OU game coming off the injury and had a really good football game. You go read about the quotes that he had after that game, all he did was praise his teammates for how well they played. Then we don't play great against Oklahoma State and we suffer a loss, and he took all the blame. So, I think right then, you found out the type of leader that he is. What he did coming into this off-season is continued just to pour into what does he need to do to be the best quarterback for the University of Texas.
“The result of that is we've seen his body composition change. We've seen a level of maturity change. We've seen him really dialing in and understanding schematically what we're trying to do offensively change. We've seen him from a morale standpoint speaking up in team meetings, speaking up on the field, from a work ethic standpoint. I think he's earned the respect of his teammates throughout this time and throughout this process. What I do know is he's extremely talented. There's not a throw he can't make. He's got a very high football IQ. If things go the way we think they can go, the pundits are probably right, he is a first-round draft pick quarterback.”
3. Ewers focused on becoming healthier
“I did have some [health] issues [last season],” Ewers said. “I had a double hernia surgery my junior year of high school, which ultimately, I wasn't as stabilized throughout through my hips as I wanted to be. I feel like this offseason, I'm really focused on that and kind of stabilizing everything. Like I said, I haven't felt this good in a while.”
4. Ewers worked on becoming a smarter football player to cut back on negative plays
“Obviously, you can't just try to hit a home run every single time,” Ewers said. “Coach Sark has a good analogy – you can't go broke taking a profit. Sometimes the downfield shot is not there, so just got to check it down. Live to play another down.”
“I think that sometimes when you feel like you always have something to prove, you can press,” Sarkisian said. “You can try too hard because you feel like you have to show what you're capable of, or you want to keep your job, or you want to get people that may be thinking negatively about you because you didn't play great the week before off of you. I think there's a sign of maturity as you grow that hey man, we think you're plenty good enough. You don't have to prove it to us. You got to just be a great teammate. You got to put in the work, and when your opportunities present themselves, those plays will come. You don't have to try to make things happen. They will happen for you, as long as you can recognize them when they're available to you. I just think that's a sign of maturity that he has now that we're seeing. When those things do come up, that's our job as coaches to nip it in the bud, and to get him back recentered and refocused.”
5. Ewers focused on becoming a leader. Here is what I reported in the War Room on Thursday:
“I have been told throughout this offseason about the transformation of Quinn Ewers. He changed his diet, lost weight, pushed himself more in the gym, and focused on football throughout the offseason. There is another occurrence that we can add to the list of positives for Ewers.
I was told Ewers recently gave a speech to the team during summer workouts. He told everyone if they follow him this season, Texas will win it all. His teammates were pumped to hear that message. So skeptics have questioned if Ewers is a vocal leader, or an “alpha” enough, but the quarterback let his teammates know he is ready and willing to lead the Longhorns in 2023.”
Training camp begins on Wednesday
A few position battles are remaining.
However, the success of this year’s Longhorns depends on one thing.
The transformation of Ewers this offseason.
“I learned a whole lot about myself last year and really how much this sport means to me,” Ewers said. “It was definitely tough going through what we went through last year. I'm not going to say I'm glad I went through it but it's kind of good that I did because it showed me what I need to be for this team, for myself, and how I need to approach things.”
Funniest Things You Will See This Week
Abby was not having it
This is for the dads
The Big 12 is killing it right now
Sports On A Dime
1. I have heard great things about the relationship between Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian and analyst Paul Chryst. I was told Chryst has been a breath of fresh air during meetings and an offensive mind that Sarkisian is utilizing to develop strategies this season. Chryst is a person who has quickly earned Sarkisian’s trust since joining the staff. From what I gathered, Chryst has been the perfect staff addition for Sarkisian.
2. The potential addition of Gary Patterson as an analyst for Texas would be a bonus. Patterson was a sounding board for the football staff last season. He scouted Alabama, which helped the coaching staff develop a great game plan. Patterson also introduced effective ways to blitz and strengthened the secondary. Just remember, Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski ran that unit last season and called plays. However, it is a win-win for everyone if Patterson rejoins the Longhorn staff.
3. Here is a blast from the past
4. Once again, imagine if the Big 12 had current commissioner Brett Yormark providing ideas to strengthen this conference. The Big 12 is in good hands after Texas and Oklahoma leave because of Yormark.
5. ESPN published a detailed article about the Pass Act of 2023, which was introduced by Tommy Tuberville and Joe Manchin this past week. I can think of so many other issues in our country that need attention.
Nonetheless, here are the highlights from that article:
Along with creating a national law for NIL deals, the Pass Act would also require schools to provide health coverage for sports-related injuries for eight years after athletes finish their college eligibility. Athletic departments that generate more than $20 million annually would also be required to cover out-of-pocket medical costs for two years after an athlete's playing career. Athletic departments that generate more than $50 million annually would have to cover four years of out-of-pocket expenses.
The bill also seeks to create a certification process for agents that work with college athletes, a public database for anonymized NIL data, and a uniform contract for athletes to use in NIL deals. Those items have been on the wish list of NCAA president Charlie Baker since he took on his new position in March.
The bill would make it illegal for states to pass individual laws that allow college athletes to receive a direct share of the billions of dollars of revenue they help to generate. This past year, a state representative in California proposed a bill that would allow for revenue sharing on teams that produce a significant amount of money for their schools. The bill was paused this summer.
The senators also suggest making it against federal law for a college athlete to transfer without sitting out a year until he or she has used at least three years of their college eligibility -- except for extreme circumstances, such as the death of a family member. Coaches and athletic directors have complained during the past year that the combination of NIL money and a relatively new NCAA rule that allows players to transfer without penalty has made it difficult to maintain a steady roster.
6. If you are picking any higher than No.5 in your fantasy football draft, forget about getting Bijan Robinson
7. This should not come as a surprise to any Longhorn fan (the YouTube video is worth watching)
8. This is cool training camp moment for Cowboys/Longhorn fans
9. I can no longer say Austin FC wins every time I show up. My presence at Saturday's game could not prevent that butt-kicking by FC Juarez.
10. Speaking of butt-kicking, my goodness, Errol Spence Jr. Terence Crawford dominated Spence so much, I felt bad for the Texas boxer. The good news is we saw two fighters meet each other in their respective primes. We do not see that enough in boxing. The bad news is Spence is not on Crawford's level - at all.
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