Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian has ended any speculation about who would start at quarterback against the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday in the Cotton Bowl. Sark announced on Thursday Quinn Ewers will be back under center for the Horns.
Ewers’ appearance at Wednesday night’s ‘Texas Fight’ pep rally at the UT Tower was a pretty good indication. Now Sark has made it official.
“Injuries are different. I think there’s obviously a medical component to this, of when he is cleared by doctors to play. I mean, whether I think he can play or not, he has to be cleared to play. Then it goes to myself. What does my eye tell me? Not only from a physical ability, but also from a mental ability to be ready to go play.” — Steve Sarkisian
Sarkisian noted that players can be physically ready but perhaps mentally “not playing 100% full speed and that can be dangerous, too.”
“So I guess there’s science involved, there’s gut instinct involved, there’s psyche involved. There’s a lot that goes into it. But in the end, we’re just trying to instill confidence in the player that he’s more than capable of going and doing it.” — Steve Sarkisian
Ewers is listed as ‘Probable’ on the official SEC injury report, which comes out each Wednesday before a game. It is updated 90 minutes before kickoff.
Guess who's back?! Quinn Ewers will start for @TexasFootball against Oklahoma 🤘 pic.twitter.com/PlUjWopH1s
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 10, 2024
There has been an expectation since the Mississippi State game Ewers would return to the starting lineup against the Sooners. It seemed like he was close to playing against the Bulldogs, but was held out to give him an extra two more weeks to heal. Texas had a bye last week.
Ewers strained his oblique during Week 3’s game against UTSA and has been out since. Backup Arch Manning has been playing in Ewers place.
In his Monday press conference, Sark indicated things were trending in a positive direction.
“I thought he looked good coming off the bye. I think if anybody benefitted from the time off, it was probably him. Quinn worked last week for three practices. He practiced again today. We’re going to monitor him daily just to kind of see how he continues to progress. But I feel good about how he was today. I feel good about him going into Saturday, but that remains to be seen.” — Steve Sarkisian