He's Baaaaaack! Texas QB Quinn Ewers Is On Track To Start vs. Oklahoma In Red River Showdown

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Instant plot twist! Bet you were expecting a Sam Ehlinger GIF/video below this breaking news about Quinn Ewers. I've spared you, Longhorns faithful, and graced you with LaVar Ball, because this is a time for celebration as your blue-chip freshman quarterback is returning just in time for Saturday's rivalry duel with Oklahoma.

With Sooners QB Dillon Gabriel getting knocked out of last week's game on an awful, dirty hit and Brent Venables' defensive "genius" doing very little to alleviate Oklahoma's woes on that side of the ball, things are shaping up nicely for Texas in this one. The Longhorns have lost the last four meetings with their archenemy and are only 3-10 in the last 13 matchups.

All "we're baaaack!" jokes aside, I'm young enough to remember when I floated the notion that Texas might indeed be back once Coach Sark finally did away with competitive charades and named Ewers the starter before the season after a "battle" with Hudson Card for the QB1 gig:

People were ready to jump on Ewers when he threw an early INT in his first start. Then, uh…the Alabama game happened. 

Had Ewers not gotten crushed and injured his shoulder on a goal-to-go passing play when Steve Sarkisian could've just, you know, handed the ball off to elite tailback Bijan Robinson, I'm convinced the Crimson Tide would have a loss on their 2022 ledger. Instead, Ewers went out, Bama won 20-19 and the Horns are now 3-2.

Although Card hasn't played poorly at all in Ewers' place, there's no question the consensus No. 1 overall recruit raises Texas' ceiling to a significant degree. Ewers should only improve with increased game experience, and according to Thursday's report, he's been full-go at practice. This isn't a case of rushing back for a marquee clash. The Horns have a healthy Ewers, and two winnable games before a challenging stretch of three of four on the road in Big 12 play.

Given how well Ewers flashed versus Alabama when he completed nine of 12 passes for 134 yards, even casual college football fans should be amped up to see what he can do the rest of the season. We saw in that outing Ewers doesn't shy away from the big stage. Despite neither team being ranked, the Red River Showdown is about as grand of a theater as the NCAA gridiron has to offer.

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