Even without ever attempting a pass as a college quarterback, the expectations surrounding Texas’ new quarterback Quinn Ewers are astronomically high.
Ewers, who came to Texas after spending what should have been his senior season of high school at Ohio State, has yet to even win the starting job.
He is competing with third-year quarterback Hudson Card, a battle that many believe could take until the season opener to decide. Even with all the uncertainty around Ewers, outlets like CBS Sports still believe he has a chance to resurrect the program while also keeping Steve Sarkisian off the hot seat.
Here is what CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah said about Ewers’ importance to the program.
Calling Ewers a generational quarterback prospect is an understatement. The Southlake (Texas) Carroll product emerged as the first perfect 1.0000 quarterback recruit in the 247Sports Composite since Vince Young — the only quarterback to win a national championship on the 40 Acres in the last 50 years. There have only been five other perfect 1.0000 recruits since 2000; for comparison, Trevor Lawrence was a 0.9999.
Quarterback play has doomed the Longhorns for more than a decade. Texas is entering its 13th consecutive season without an All-Big 12 First Team quarterback, so getting a superstar from the program’s own backyard was a must.
He continued mentioning the major upgrades the coaching staff was able to bring in during the offseason in addition to players like star running back Bijan Robinson and receiver Xavier Worthy, but also noted that none are more crucial to the program’s success than Ewers.
Of course, the success rides on Ewers proving to be the Golden Boy — the savior at quarterback who was promised. Ewers has not thrown a live game pass in nearly two years, but his high school career was legendary. Ewers threw for 4,003 yards, 45 touchdowns and three interceptions as a sophomore before leading his Carroll squad to the Texas 6A State Championship Game as a junior. He completed 70% of his passes and averaged more than 10 yards per pass attempt in the highest classification of Texas high school football.
There is a ton of pressure on Texas as a program every year, even with it being in constant disarray. However, with Ewers in burnt orange, this might be the most pressure that Texas will face since the early 2000’s.