There are many unknowns about this Texas football team.
Whether or not the players that left the program with poor attitudes can help turn around the culture, whether or not the new coaching hires will live up to their reputations, or if Texas’ new additions to the roster will be enough to propel the program to the top of college football. They’re all valid questions that only time will tell.
Likely the biggest question surrounding the Longhorns was identified by CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah, which is Ohio State transfer Quinn Ewers. Here is what Jeyarajah had to say about the former perfectly rated quarterback prospect when addressing whether or not he is ready to be the big man on campus.
When quarterback Quinn Ewers decommitted from Texas as a recruit, it portended the end of the Tom Herman era. When Ewers opted to transfer from Ohio State to Texas, it gave Steve Sarkisian’s program the shot in the arm it desperately needed to rebound from a 5-7 season.
Ewers was the consensus No. 1 recruit in the nation and the first quarterback to earn a perfect rating from the 247Sports Composite since Vince Young. But with spring practice starting, hype isn’t enough. Ewers has to perform like a generational quarterback recruit.
The Longhorns’ 5-7 record was the worst first-year campaign by a Longhorns coach since Dana X. Bible in 1937. Texas ranked No. 47 in total offense and No. 72 in passing offense during the disappointing campaign. Whether Texas can reach Big 12 contention relies almost solely on whether Ewers pops from Day 1.
In order to even determine if Ewers can lead Texas to all this success, he must win the job over Hudson Card who has an advantage of this being his second year in the offense. Similar to last season, Sarkisian has expressed that the battle will likely not be decided in spring and that the two will split reps evenly for the starting job.
Many fans are clamoring for the young gun Ewers, but he has a lot of ground to make up for in order to surpass Card.