AUSTIN — Early final week, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian sat down with Quinn Ewers for an sincere chat. Not to chastise the 19-year-old quarterback for what occurred in Stillwater, Okla., on Oct. 22, however to let him know that dangerous days hit everybody, even wunderkinds with supernatural arm expertise.
Your response, Sarkisian defined, is the one factor that issues. Ewers wanted to bury the three interceptions, the 30 incompletions, the blown lead and loss to Oklahoma State prior to now.
The message resonated with Ewers as a result of the 48-year-old coach delivering it had lived out some dangerous days of his personal.
Sarkisian blossomed from junior faculty star to All-American quarterback at BYU (1995-96), however his first 12 months of Division I ball included just a few rocky outings. In the penultimate recreation of BYU’s 1995 season, Sarkisian threw 4 interceptions and took three sacks in a 34-17 loss to Utah. Every week later, he threw for 399 yards and three touchdowns to beat Fresno State and assist the Cougars declare a share of the Western Athletic Conference title.
“He kind of just took me through what he went through, and I think that that helped me a lot,” Ewers stated Monday. “He was just talking about his past when he might have had a bad game, just being able to put it in the past and then go do well the following week.”
It’s generally straightforward to overlook simply how younger Ewers is. And the stress positioned on the previous Southlake Carroll showstopper has solely intensified with each jaw-dropping dime and every new endorsement deal.
Just this previous summer season, the quarterback and his trademark blond mullet fronted a Wranglers advertising marketing campaign, the most recent in a string of identify, picture and likeness offers that started in 2021 with a million-dollar contract from a sports activities memorabilia firm. That was all earlier than he even gained the beginning job at Texas.
But Ewers has performed in only a handful of video games at this stage, partially due to an harm. A sternoclavicular sprain prevented him from taking part in within the closing three quarters of Texas’ 20-19 loss to then-No. 1 Alabama and sidelined him the following three video games.
Ewers’ efficiency towards Oklahoma State would’ve been extra regarding if it have been a pattern quite than an anomaly. But the redshirt freshman was each electrical and environment friendly all through his first 4 appearances, finishing 67.7 p.c of his passes for 820 yards with 9 touchdowns and two interceptions.
“My biggest thing for Quinn is, and sometimes you have to learn it the hard way, is that playing quarterback, when you win you probably get too much credit and when you lose you probably get too much blame,” Sarkisian stated. “And you have to be careful (not) to ride that emotional roller coaster of the highs and the lows of the perception from the outside. And you need to go to work every single day and keep the noise quiet and know that myself, the coaching staff, the team is in the foxhole with him and will go to battle with him every day.”
Ewers admitted the footage from the Oklahoma State recreation was “tough to go back at look at.” The nation’s former No. 1 recruit stated he couldn’t recall one other time the place he persistently struggled to join together with his wideouts. Ewers did, in spite of everything, full 70 p.c of his passes in highschool with greater than 9 instances as many touchdowns as interceptions.
He’s not dwelling, although. Ewers reviewed the tape, broke it down with Sarkisian and quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee, then moved on to this week’s matchup with No. 13 Kansas State (6-2, 4-1 Big 12).
“It’s just the small things,” Ewers stated. “Whether it’s leading the receiver more or not trying to throw over people, stuff like that.”
Sarkisian stated he didn’t contemplate pulling Ewers in favor of redshirt sophomore Hudson Card in an try to spark the offense towards Oklahoma State.
It was essential for Ewers to confront the adversity head-on, to strive righting the ship earlier than it capsized. That, Sarkisian advised him, was the one means to study what it takes to overcome the trials that await.
“I just wanted to make sure (he knows) that not every Saturday is gonna be a perfect sunny day and everything’s gonna go great,” Sarkisian stated. “And there’s going to be days where you got to battle and you got to fight when maybe we’re not at our best, but you continue to battle and compete. And I thought he did that two weeks ago. But I think he’s got great days ahead of him, and I thought he put in a lot of good work last week.”
Twitter: @NRMoyle
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