Even before he steps onto the field to throw in front of NFL General Managers and scouts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Saturday, Quinn Ewers will undergo a battery of interviews, tests and medicals which could have as much, or more, of an impact on where he will be drafted than what he does on the field.
But there is one test, which Ewers aced even before he arrived in Indianapolis, that could help sway a GM to take the Texas quarterback higher than many draft pundits are now projecting.
The S2 cognition test has quickly become a key tool for many NFL teams in evaluating quarterbacks (and other players).
The test, developed by co-founders Scotty Wylie and Brandon Ally, tests nine cognitive functions to determine how quickly athletes can process information. Using a special laptop which can quickly process response times, athletes perform tests such as keeping track of multiple objects and identifying designated shapes in a crowd.
It’s all about seeing what is happening on the field, taking that information in, processing it and making proper decisions based on that information. And all of this happens in milliseconds.
“How does a quarterback know when something is open, whether that's they're anticipating it being open, because, as you know, as the game speeds up at the SEC level, a lot of these decisions or throws are made prior to the receiver actually being open,” Ally said. “So you've got to determine, based on where the defender is, his hip angle, his shoulder angle, what your receiver is doing, whether that guy is going to be open or not. So as an example, there may be multiple decisions that go into that within a three second rate, two second rate.”
If you need an excellent example of recognizing a receiver is open even before he comes open, look no further than this clip from San Francisco 49’er quarterback Brock Purdy this year.
S2 scores are not public information, the company does not release or confirm them. But sometimes scores get leaked and Brock Purdy’s scored in the mid-90’s. That’s the same range as Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.
“We've got a lot of evidence to suggest that guys who score in the 80s and 90s go on to be starters and everyday quarterbacks and franchise type quarterbacks,” Ally told me in the summer of 2023 following the SEC Media Days in Nashville.
Joe Burrow, who agreed to allow S2 to release his score, scored in the 97th percentile.
“Everybody says, ‘well he’s an elite athlete, he should be in the top three percent,’” Ally said of Burrow. “No, no, no. He scored in the top three percent of every NFL player.”
LSU’s Director of Athletic Training, Jack Marucci, was one of the first to embrace the S2 test an worked with their staff extensively in doing testing across multiple sports.
Burrow got to know the S2 staff after transferring to LSU. They were on hand for his 2019 national championship run.
“That 2019 offense was wired up in a way that was structured for them cognitively,” Ally said. “Jack does things like the eye tracking piece, where you're putting guys on the side of the field and they're running routes based on eye dominance, all of those sorts of thing.”
It is important to note that the test is not predictive. In other words, having a lower score does not necessarily mean you are doomed to failure in the NFL. CJ Stroud reportedly had a low score but has had great success in the league so far.
Instead, the test reveals areas where athletes are strong and where they can work to improve.
“The strength of S2 is knowing what your player can and can't do, and then asking the question, does he fit into our vision or offense, or can we build around that,” Ally said.
In other words, the S2 test, just like the Wonderlic or any other testing that will take place in Indianapolis, is not going to be thing that necessarily sells a team on a player. It is just one data point in many.
“You know, scouting,” Ally said. “They're going to go to the tape, they're going to watch a kid. They're going to learn a kid, to know him. They're going to do everything they can. This is just one piece.
“I'd say for probably 50 percent of our teams, this is a confirmation. It feels good, like ‘we love this kid, and he scored good on this too. This makes us feel really good.’ The other 50 percent of teams, I think, weigh it a little bit more heavily than that.”
Ally did confirm that Quinn Ewers had already taken the test. However, he would not reveal his score. And while I have not been able to confirm Ewers’ exact score, I have heard he did “very well” on the S2 test. Will that lead to a team taking Ewers really high? Probably not. But if a team, which is an S2 client, is debating between Ewers and another quarterback, then it could make all the difference.
One question I have not confirmed is whether new Texas quarterback Arch Manning has taken the test.
S2 has a relationship with the Elite 11 and will have test results for nearly every big time QB prospect even before they go off to college. However, Manning skipped all of those types of camps and UT does not have a contract with S2 in football, so it’s likely that he has not taken the test.
Of course, that will not slow any team down from drafting Manning when his time comes to leave for the NFL … especially if he produces the kind of college career that we all expect him to produce.
UT’S S2 CONNECTIONS
The University of Texas is not an S2 client for football. However, UT has been a client for baseball and softball.
It is important to note that Texas baseball was a client as of 2023 when this interview took place. I have reached out to Texas to confirm whether they are still a client and will update this story appropriately when I hear back.
Baseball has always been a sport that is open to statistical data.
“Baseball and softball are so sliced and diced with analytics and numbers, it's easy to make relationships,” said Ally.
In baseball, the cognitive test can be far more predictive of success than in football.
In football, there are far more variables to factor in. For example, maybe a quarterback can process information really well, but he is playing behind a poor offensive line and doesn’t have enough time? Or maybe his receivers drop passes? Or maybe there are a high number of pre-snap penalties which kill drives?
In baseball, it’s just the hitter. How a batter sees a pitch and responds to it determines success.
It is the responding part that is the key element and one that the cognitive test is able to isolate.
“There are probably 13 million people in this country walking around with 2010 vision that can't come close to hitting a 100 miles per hour pitch,” Ally said. “So there's a lot more that goes into it than just having the visual acuity to see the pitch.”
Texas baseball and softball can utilize the test results to isolate areas where hitters need to improve.
“As an example, the impulse control task we test - you can look at Chase rates from double A to the major leagues and the S2 impulse control task is the best predictor of Major League Chase rates of any metric used,” said Ally.
Armed with this information, the coaches can utilize training plans to improve players abilities to better see the ball and avoid chasing bad pitches.
TWEETS OF INTEREST:
Texas’s draft-eligible players have a chance to really help themselves this week.
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I thought this tweet was particularly interesting this week given the news that Terry Joseph left Austin this week to take a job in the NFL.
This is as true in real life as it is in football. You never know how a seemingly innocuous interaction with someone or how you performed on a particular task may someday prove to be the difference between landing your next job – or not.
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Incoming spring transfer portal prospect?
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Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte will be holding his annual town hall this evening. It’s a chance to get an update on all things UT athletics and for fans to get to ask CDC questions.
One question I would love to ask is if Texas has already drafted a plan for how to distribute the $20+ million annual payout as part of the House vs. NCAA settlement.
Georgia announced their plan this week and about 75 percent of it will go to football.
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Well damn! OU just got a lot better today.
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If you haven’t been watching Texas baseball, you’ve missed some incredible early season defense.
And let me tell you, defense in baseball is just as important as it is in football. This (and the insane pitching performances so far) are very good indicators for a potential return trip to Omaha.
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Meanwhile in College Station …
Not bad for a Texas State program which could be a Pac-12 member in the very near future.
Naturally, A&M fans are taking the loss with great restraint.
While Texas fans are taking a little bit of credit.
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Texas baseball’s future is in very good hands as well.
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Damn straight!
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Damn straight!
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Texas BBQ can seduce even the most refined of palates.
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Texas is still scoring.
But this is definitely one of the creepiest stories out on the web right now.
