Quinn Ewers: The Heart and Soul of Texas Football’s Revival
ATLANTA — The Texas Longhorns have been chasing a national championship for nearly two decades, a fact that weighs heavily on the shoulders of their quarterback, Quinn Ewers. This isn’t just a professional ambition for Ewers; it’s personal. Somewhere in his childhood home, his mom still keeps a Longhorns hat he wore religiously as a toddler. That hat symbolizes a dream that has been with him since he was 3, 4, and 5 years old—a dream of leading Texas to a national title.
Last season, Ewers came tantalizingly close to realizing that dream. Texas clinched its first Big 12 championship since 2009 and made its inaugural College Football Playoff appearance, all with Ewers at the helm. It seemed like the stars were aligning for a fairy-tale ending as they prepared to face Washington in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 1, 2024.
Despite struggling for much of the game, Ewers rallied Texas in the fourth quarter. Down 37-31 with just 41 seconds left, he had a chance to orchestrate a game-winning drive. The task was clear: take Texas 69 yards for the score. Ewers managed to get inside Washington’s 15-yard line, setting up four attempts to score. On the final play, he lofted a pass to Adonai Mitchell in the end zone, only for Elijah Jackson to bat it away.
The image of Ewers, tears in his eyes, at the postgame news conference became a lasting memory. That night in the Sugar Bowl haunted him for a year. But now, Ewers has led Texas back to the semifinals, where they will face Ohio State—his former school—in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl. His mission remains unchanged: to be the quarterback who ends Texas’s national title drought, which dates back to 2005.
“It definitely was tough just to go back and watch what happened,” Ewers told ESPN after a 39-31 victory over Arizona State in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. “It feels like you’re an inch away from going to the national championship. It’s a hard pill to swallow.”
After the Sugar Bowl loss, Ewers announced his return to Texas just nine days later. The 2023 season had been a rollercoaster for him, beyond the heartbreaking Sugar Bowl ending. Despite being the entrenched starter after transferring from Ohio State in 2022, Texas had signed freshman phenom Arch Manning, nephew of Peyton and Eli. The fan base’s whispers followed every misstep, every average performance.
Yet, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian never wavered in his belief in Ewers. Ewers and Manning maintain a strong relationship, but the image of Ewers sitting alone at media day, overshadowed by the crowd gathered around Manning, lingers.
Despite his contributions to Texas’s resurgence, some fans have been waiting for Ewers to step aside for two years. That is, unless he wins two more games.
Many expected Ewers to leave after last season, paving the way for Manning to take over. However, the Sugar Bowl loss solidified Ewers’ decision to return. This year, Texas became his team more than ever. “That is just a testament to my teammates and how much trust everybody has in me, and I feel like it helps me be a better player,” Ewers said.
Manning saw more action this year, starting two games after Ewers sustained an abdominal injury in September and playing in situational run packages, especially after Ewers sprained his ankle late in the season. But even when Ewers struggled, Sarkisian remained loyal to his starter.
Ewers is comfortable leading this offense. With him, it knows how to win. His teammates believe in him. Ewers will end his Texas career as one of the all-time greats in program history. He ranks No. 3 in career passing yards and touchdowns thrown for the Longhorns, with a touchdown pass in 26 straight games, the longest streak by a Texas QB since Colt McCoy from 2007 to 2009. Only McCoy has more 300-yard passing games than Ewers.
In 35 career starts, Ewers is 27-8. Five of those losses came in his first year as a starter in 2022. Two came to Georgia this season, and Ewers’ performances in both losses gave his critics plenty of fodder. His play might look clunky at times, but when he delivers, he shows off the playmaking ability that made him the No. 1 recruit in the country out of high school.
Consider the Peach Bowl against Arizona State. Ewers delivered two perfect passes on the first two plays, then went quiet for two quarters. The fourth quarter was a typical Ewers experience. His 5-yard touchdown run put Texas up 24-8, and he celebrated with a rare show of emotion, flexing his arms.
Arizona State responded with a touchdown. Two plays into the ensuing drive, Ewers threw an interception with 5:45 to play, leading to the game-tying score. But Ewers locked in, going 8-of-10 for 105 yards on the last two drives of the fourth quarter, putting Texas in field goal range both times. Bert Auburn missed both attempts.
In overtime, Texas faced a do-or-die situation: fourth-and-13 from the Arizona State 28. It was eerily similar to the Sugar Bowl scenario a year ago.
Ewers had to make a throw to save the season.
Texas lined up, and Ewers sent a player in motion. He noticed Arizona State tipping its defensive playcall. Ewers adjusted the protection to account for the blitz, knowing the safety would leave Matthew Golden wide open downfield.
Touchdown, Texas.
“I think everybody sees the throw and the catch,” offensive coordinator Kyle Flood said. “I don’t know if you saw him change the protection. I knew we were going to be protected. We’re going to be clean. And now it’s just a matter, hopefully we can get open. He makes the right throw.”
“Quinn’s got a clutch gene, and he came through,” said Texas edge player Ethan Burke, who stood on the sideline waiting for the final play.
In the second overtime, Sarkisian called a play Texas often runs during spring and fall camp for tight end Gunnar Helm in overtime situations. “We have a really solid defense, so most of the time it gets covered up,” Ewers said. “Even if he wasn’t one-on-one, I was going to give Gunnar a shot, and if that wasn’t there, I knew I had Tre [Wisner] in the flat. So, just so cool to see that play come to fruition.”
Indeed, as Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron cradled the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Defensive MVP trophy in one arm while answering a question about the defensive performance, he stopped midsentence.
“Big shoutout to Quinn,” Barron said. “He doesn’t get the love that he should get from others, but it doesn’t matter. He knows he doesn’t need that love. We love him.”
Barron, Ewers, and the other players who felt the sting after the loss in the Sugar Bowl in 2024 now have their second chance to advance to the national title game.
“I don’t think any of them forget being in New Orleans at the end of that game last year, and I don’t think any of them forgot all offseason long, and the obsession that they’ve had with getting back to this stage, I think is one that has fueled us through a fair amount of adversity that has gotten us back here,” Sarkisian said.
“That is definitely accurate,” Ewers said. “This game is my life, and this game is this whole team’s life, and for us to go as far as we did, and the amount of time that we put in was definitely hard, but [we’re] just so thankful that we have another opportunity to go win and a game that we lost last year.”
Originally Written by: Andrea Adelson
