Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers is expected to be one of the top players in the nation for the upcoming season.
Ewers has steadily progressed each year as the starter and led Texas to a Big 12 Championship and College Football Playoff berth in 2023. The expectations for the signal-caller are even higher in 2024.
Texas returns the majority of its starting offensive line, a two-headed monster at running back, and a revamped wide receiver room thanks to the transfer portal. There shouldn’t be any drop off in production on offense under Steve Sarkisian as the Longhorns enter the SEC.
Many view Ewers as a front runner for the Heisman in 2024. However, Pro Football Focus (PFF) is a bit lower on Ewers than most. In PFF’s recent ranking of the top returning quarterbacks for the 2024 season, Ewers landed at No. 5 behind Carson Beck, Dillon Gabriel, Jalen Milroe and Shedeur Sanders.
Here’s what PFF had to say about Ewers’ placing in the ranking.
Texas was finally back in 2023 due to the improvement made by its redshirt sophomore quarterback. Ewers led the Longhorns to a Big 12 title and College Football Playoff berth this past season after losing the mullet and the gunslinger mentality that anchored him in 2022. He cut his turnover-worthy play rate by more than half (1.7% in 2023 compared to 3.6% in 2022) and upgraded his PFF passing grade to an 85.6 mark after earning just a 70.9 PFF passing grade as a redshirt freshman.
Ewers led the Power Five in play-action dropbacks this year (240) and wasn’t nearly as effective without it. His 72.2 PFF grade on non-play action dropbacks was just 83rd in the nation. He’ll also need to shoulder more of the weight of the offense next year as Texas lost its top weapons to the NFL draft: wide receivers Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Jordan Whittington, running back Jonathon Brooks and tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders. If Ewers can keep improving like he did this past season though, the Longhorns are serious national championship contenders.
Ewers will look to prove he’s the top quarterback prospect for the 2025 NFL draft.
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