As It Turns Out, There Is No Quinn Ewers-Arch Manning Texas QB Controversy Whatsoever
With the understanding that there are obviously still many months before the college football season kicks off, it says a lot that Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has already called the quarterback derby between Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning. While it isn't the biggest surprise that Ewers won out over the true freshman with the ultimate football pedigree, it is interesting that Sark called it this early.
Ewers was the No. 1 recruit coming out of high school, went to Ohio State to sit for a year, and then had an up-and-down first season as a starter for the Longhorns. It's not like he could rest on his laurels. Bijan Robinson is no longer walking through that door. It had to be the QB taking ownership of the offense in 2023. Manning's commitment to Texas appears to have ignited a fire under Ewers' ass, as he's cleaned up his diet, lopped off that glorious mullet, and is pretty much zeroed in being all ball, all the time.
Now again, it's still very, very early, but Texas' Orange vs. White Spring Game on Saturday saw Manning debut and struggle pretty mightily.
EDIT:
You can say "he was playing with backups" and that any criticism of Manning's performance is overblown. Like there's no significance to it. Manning is actually a lot more mobile than any of the legendary QBs in his family who came before him, yet in my opinion, he doesn't have anywhere near the arm talent Ewers does.
That's not a huge dig against Manning or anything. He's still so young and is making a big transition to the college gridiron. All kinds of expectations and pressure are on him. It seemed like he felt the weight of that. I was more impressed with Maalik Murphy than I was with Arch Manning.
But like…regardless of what the context is and where he is in his development, Manning ain't making this throw:
That ball by Ewers is to the far side of the field, with a defender bearing down on him. If it was a straight-line toss, it'd be about 55 yards in the air, but it's longer than that since Ewers is nearer to the right hash and Xavier Worthy hauls it in just inside the left sideline. AND there's a ton of air and touch under it. Hits Worthy right in stride. Can't stay in bounds for him.
Ewers, who finished 16-of-23 passing for 195 yards and a TD, has a lightning-quick release, can sling it from any arm angle and is only going to grow as his footwork and fundamentals become more consistent on some of the more basic throws. It still blows my mind that he ditched out on his final year of high school to get a head start on college football.
You can tell that after a pretty rough 2022 campaign, Ewers isn't leaving anything to chance going forward, per ESPN.com's Dave Wilson:
"I wasn't where I wanted to be last year. I feel like I let most of the fans down, and I don't want to be in that same situation this year. […] Obviously, something had to change if I wanted to end up where I want to be in the future…I'm starting right here. I'm eating a lot better. I'm doing all the small things a lot harder, and I'm excited."
Manning's commitment to Texas might've been the best thing that could've happened to Ewers considering all the hype and fanfare he was met with before he played a down at the NCAA level. At this point, might as well let Manning redshirt and give Ewers center stage. I could see Ewers emerge as a superstar who makes a huge leap in Year 2 under Sark's guidance and positions himself to potentially go pro in the 2024 NFL Draft.