Whether Ewers will live up to his high recruiting rankings and where he falls in the 2025 quarterback draft class are still unanswered.
Quinn Ewers, a redshirt junior quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, is returning to the Forty Acres to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing for the burnt orange and white while preparing for the 2025 NFL Draft. However, a crucial question facing the Southlake Carroll product is whether his on-field accomplishments and production will finally match the recruiting rankings that previously rated him as the best quarterback prospect evaluated in the modern era.
As a professional prospect, Ewers’ expectations are still high. Dane Brugler of The Athletic now rates him as Georgia’s Carson Beck’s backup quarterback for the upcoming season. However, coaches who wish to remain nameless and who spoke with Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, are less optimistic about Ewers. Let’s examine their viewpoints and Ewers’ current position in his career path.
I don’t feel all that smitten with him. Overrated. Although he has a lot of skill surrounding him and a good arm, there are a lot of things that make you wonder what the man is doing with his life. Source: Texas-based DB coach from the previous season Conclusion: It could be reasonable to consider Ewers as the greatest quarterback prospect in a generation when determining whether or not he is “overhyped.” or at least not in a really unjust way.
A more realistic assessment of Ewers would take into account the reps he lost due to an injury sustained as a junior at Carroll and the reps he missed while buried deep on the Ohio State depth chart after reclassifying to the 2021 recruiting class. From that vantage point, the 2022 Texas offense’s limitations would be taken into account, including tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders’ inexperience, the broken hand that Xavier Worthy suffered while playing, and the complete lack of wide receiver depth caused by injuries to Isaiah Neyor and Jordan Whittington.
From that vantage point, it would be easy to see how much Ewers improved in 2023 as his pass receivers did. This was seen in his completion percentage rising to 69 percent, yards per attempt skyrocketing to 8.8, and interception rate falling to 1.5 percent. The interception rate in particular raises questions about the validity of the defensive back coach’s assessment of Ewers, saying that he does “a bunch of stuff where you wonder what he’s doing out there.”
Regretfully, that context is absent, but it’s important to note that Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian claims that Ewers has improved his pocket presence and is working to develop his defense-reading skills this offseason. During spring practice, Ewers stated, “Right now, I’m really just trying to focus on defensive recognition, anticipating what they can do so I can get the reads faster — it just makes my whole my job a lot easier.”
As he begins his third season as a starter, Ewers should be realistically expected to improve his pre- and post-snap reads. This will allow the Texas quarterback to get to the right read more often, manipulate defenses with his eyes, and get the ball out on time and in rhythm.
As he begins his third season as a starter, Ewers should be realistically expected to improve his pre- and post-snap reads. This will allow the Texas quarterback to get to the right read more often, manipulate defenses with his eyes, and get the ball out on time and in rhythm.
Quote: “I believe he’s still attempting to make sense of things. There are moments when he’ll rip it because Sark does such an amazing job setting things up for him, but other times, he just seems a little shy. Source: An accomplished Big 12 aide Evaluation: Ewers’ decision to go back to Texas was largely influenced by the caliber of the 2024 NFL Draft class. However, Ewers said during his discussion of that choice that his team created a graphic that links NFL success to college experience.
“My goal was to improve my situation so that I can achieve great success when I eventually get there,” Ewers stated. It is therefore not unexpected that Ewers, a redshirt junior who missed a year of high school, is still figuring things out. Based on his greater dedication to the finer points of his art, Ewers is expected to make progress in his shyness, which was a problem in 2022 when he believed he had reached his peak after Oklahoma defeated him 49-0 in the Cotton Bowl.
“I’ve improved greatly as a quarterback in all facets. The wheels were churning quite quickly during my first year,” Ewers remarked. “I can finally play quarterback the way it’s supposed to be played this year because last year I finally slowed down.”