The book on Ewers coming into this season is one that we've read repeatedly since he arrived from Columbus in the 2021 off-season. He's got the talent to be the No.1 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft and yet it feels like everyone is still waiting for him to take that final step as a college player. Part of it is consistency in every part of his game from his mechanics to his deep balls to his overall performances.
That's the part that is easily quantifiable.
There's another part of his ongoing development that isn't so easily quantifiable. It centers around perceived intangibles. None other than Ewers, himself, has been transparent in discussing what he's trying to achieve. He wants to be more of a vocal leader and feels like he's taken steps in that department, but he admits that this form of leadership is a work in progress.
Frankly, I found myself wanting to compare Ewers to his SEC quarterback peers while we were in Dallas, especially after Alabama's Jalen Milroe dazzled the media with his confidence and charm hours before Ewers met with the media. Milroe was so charismatic in front of the media that it was hard not to come away wanting to suit and play with him.
When Ewers stepped in front of the media at the end of Wednesday's festivities, I had programmed in my head that I wanted Ewers to match Milroe in the charisma department step for step.
Yet, that's not who Ewers naturally is.
So, what is he?
He's incredibly likable. He's super respectful and often leans on his faith when working his way through questions. Ewers is naturally reserved. There wasn't anything close to a WWE promo being performed. At times, you could tell that all the meetings with the media over the last few years still haven't quite translated to it becoming his comfort zone. He was fidgety and squirmed a little in his seat without likely knowing that it was even happening.
Personally, I found him to be incredibly charming in a very unassuming way. What do I mean by that? Well, I found him to be charming without trying to be charming. He's the kind of guy that you can have a good time fishing with, but not because he's going to entertain you with a big personality. You just get the sense that he's good people.
At the very end of his session with the media, I snuck in the last question of the day, asking Ewers if this season felt like his last rodeo as a college football season.
He was modest in his answer in all the best kind of ways.
"It definitely feels that way, but..." Ewers said softly before taking a medium-sized breath. "Who knows what Jesus has planned for me in my life? I mean... I love this game so much and it can be taken away from you. I try not to put my identity just in football."
Ewers then shrugged and briefly looked at the ground before lifting his head and looking me dead in the eyes with a soft grin,
"It would be cool if it was, right?" Ewers remarked.
Maybe... just maybe... we need to quit trying to put Ewers in a box that he's never going to fit comfortably in. When I say "we", I mean me. I mean the media. I mean the Texas coaching staff. I mean NFL scouts.
Let's just let Ewers be himself.
Former Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger had all of the alpha-male charisma in the world, and, you know what? He wasn't better than Ewers on the football field. He didn't guide Texas to a Big 12 title or lead them to the playoffs. Perhaps Ewers will never be an "alpha-male" in the way a lot of coaches are convinced they need their quarterbacks to be. Yet, Ewers is a champion and has an alpha-sized WWE MVP championship belt to prove it.
Perhaps this is a discussion that will never stop. It's possible that it'll be a storyline that follows him throughout his career, partly because we've conditioned ourselves to believe that a successful quarterback has to be a certain way and only a certain way.
Personally, I'm done asking for Ewers to be something that he's not. There's nothing wrong with being a soft-spoken, unassuming nice human being.
What I'm trying to say, perhaps very inarticulately, in fact, perhaps despite appearances, I like Quinn very much.
Just the way he is.
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