The Texas Longhorns face their first real challenge of the season when they host the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday. Redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers will be leading the charge for the Longhorns, and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian feels like his young quarterback is up for the challenge.
Sarkisian says he realizes he had to let Ewers go and trust he can get the job done.
Steve Sarkisian said his Texas is very healthy for the Bama game, said QB Quinn Ewers was "dialed in and had a good week."
— Kirk Bohls (@kbohls) September 8, 2022
“You can’t expect him to ride this bike and do it with training wheels on — I’ve gotta let him go, and we did that tonight,” Sarkisian said after the Longhorns’ 52-10 win over Louisiana Monroe Saturday.
Ewers had a decent day passing, throwing for 225 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. It was an impressive debut for the youngster, but he did show flashes that he is still a freshman starter.
“Very rarely did I feel like, man, the ball’s not going to the right spot to the right person,” Sarkisian said in his Monday press conference.
“I think it was a good learning lesson for him — sometimes you have to earn the right to punt, as they say,” he said.
The main thing that concerned the head coach is Ewers’s accuracy with his downfield throws.
“I think some of the throws on the deep balls, I think he’d love to have back just from an accuracy standpoint, and he’ll fix it,” Sarkisian said. “Sometimes you need to get that full-speed rep of guys running down the field, of what that feels like.”
Ewers is going to have to play like a veteran quarterback if he intends on upsetting the No. 1 team in the country.
[Burnt Orange Nation; photo from The Austin American-Statesman, via USA Today Sports]
