There’s a chance Saturday is Quinn Ewers‘ final game at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium.
Depending on how you measure it, Ewers is one of the four or five most successful quarterbacks in Texas history. He’s 25-7 as a starter. He ranks fifth on the program’s career passing list and will almost assuredly pass Major Applewhite for third by the end of the 2024 campaign. More importantly, Ewers is the quarterback who cemented Texas’ status as “back.”
Ewers, the Texas native who ranked as the consensus No. 1 recruit in his class, led the Longhorns to the College Football Playoff last season and the program’s first conference championship since 2009. He followed it up one year later by helping direct Texas to a 9-1 record and the No. 3 ranking in the current CFP Rankings. Ewers has double-digit road wins at Alabama and at Michigan, two of the most storied programs in college football. He’s 2-1 vs. Oklahoma.
Ewers is, by almost any metric, one of the most consequential players in Texas history.
But it doesn’t seem like he or the Longhorn program is ready to embrace that in a celebratory moment. Ewers, who has a season of eligibility remaining, is not expected to go through Senior Day festivities Saturday vs. Kentucky, which has become a more common practice in this era of college football that is more welcome to celebrate three-and-done players than it was 20 years ago.
Here’s how both Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and Ewers answered a rather straightforward question Monday: Will this be (Ewers’) final home game?
“No idea,” Sarkisian said.
“Who knows?” Ewers said. “I’m just trying to win, trying to win this week.”
There are a couple of ways to take those answers — excluding the fact that Texas could host a playoff game.
First, it’s typical of both head coach and quarterback to shove that question aside. Announcements of NFL intent are often treated as state secrets in college football. Nobody wants to ruin a moment or distract from the season. Second, it’s typical coach speech to ignore reflective questions with a game ahead.
But this is also not an entirely normal situation.
Depending on who you talk to, Ewers’ status among the 2025 NFL quarterback draft class is in question. Some mock drafts project him as a first-round pick. Many do not. Some scouts view him as a first rounder. Another, surveyed this week by CBS Sports, does not view Ewers in the “lock” territory of the top 32 picks.
Questions about Ewers’ game-to-game consistency and his deep ball have plagued him since the beginning of his Texas career. Ever since returning from an oblique injury, he’s had some up-and-down moments even if the stats (66% completion rate, 13 TDs against 4 INTs) are more than respectable. Ewers’ worst two games of the season have come since his return — versus Oklahoma and Georgia, the two best defenses Texas has faced.
“Ewers has shown more ownership of the offense and is making quicker decisions, but examples of poor decision-making are still too common,” CBS NFL Draft expert Josh Edwards said. “As a longtime supporter of his talent, I still have hope that he can reach that first round platform, but the decision-making is not yet where it needs to be. Could a desperate team take him in the first round? Absolutely. But that does not mean he is a first-round talent right now.”
Given that it’s a weaker-than-usual quarterback class with no shortage of teams expected to be in the market — Browns, Raiders, Giants — it could make a lot of sense for Ewers to jump to the league. Nobody in Austin quite knows what Ewers will do, but one program source said his opinion is Ewers will go pro.
But Ewers is also someone who’s taken a measured NFL approach in the past. He didn’t leave following the 2023 season, despite a draftable grade, because of a correlation between 25-plus college starts and NFL success.
“Quinn was very receptive to maintaining his goal, which was to be a successful NFL quarterback, not just get there,” his dad, Curtis Ewers, told CBS Sports earlier this season. “It was a very mature approach he took.”
It doesn’t seem likely Ewers, who is a collegiate millionaire thanks to NIL deals, would jump for a less than favorable draft outlook with one remaining season of eligibility.
That leads us to the Arch Manning in the room.
There are 130 or so college football programs who would trade for Ewers in a heartbeat. Yet there’s a weekly angst among Texas fans about Ewers, largely because of the high-potential player who sits behind him; Manning is completing 67.8% of his passes this season while averaging nearly five yards per carry, providing a mobile element that many Longhorn faithful pine for.
When asked Monday if he felt appreciated by Texas fans, Horns247’s Eric Henry said Ewers was “hesitant” in his response.
“Yeah, I think so,” Ewers said. “They’re passionate for sure.”
Manning’s status isn’t lost on Ewers. Every college football fan has seen his Dr. Pepper commercial this season where he pokes fun at the idea saying there’s “no need to call for backup.”
Thus, you must wonder: What happens if Ewers wants to return to college for another season?
Ewers is technically a redshirt junior, but Curtis told CBS earlier this year that the family really views the 2024 campaign as “(Quinn’s) third full season of college,” labeling his time at Ohio State as an “abbreviated three-month stint.” Thus, a fourth/fifth season of college football is there for Ewers if he wants to use it.
But would his spot as Texas’ QB1 be there? Ehh.
Manning, like Ewers, was the No. 1 overall recruit in his class. While Manning has shown a tremendous amount of patience as the only five-star QB from the 2023 class not to start full time or transfer by this point, it’s not particularly reasonable to expect him to provide backup for a third straight season.
That’s a big reason why several industry sources have speculated in recent weeks that Ewers may consider entering the transfer portal if his draft grades aren’t where he wants them to be. It’s juicy gossip. It also, frankly, seems improbable. Ewers, after all, is one of the best quarterbacks in Texas history. Those players aren’t supposed to transfer. But this isn’t exactly a normal situation with Manning looming behind Ewers and the promise of millions in NIL elsewhere.
Either way, Ewers may run down the tunnel at DKR for the last time Saturday afternoon.
It’s an occasion that deserves a blowout party from 100,000-plus fans for the player who helped lift Texas back to national contention. But Ewers’ departure for the draft no longer feels quite so assured. Thus, everyone enters Saturday wondering the same thing: Is this the last time the Eyes of Texas are upon Ewers at DKR?
