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For a third straight week, reporting and speculation has centered around the health of Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers, who suffered an SC sprain of his left shoulder against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sept. 9 and hasn’t played since despite dressing for the last two games.
On Thursday, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian addressed the mental status and injury status of the redshirt freshman who was named the starter in preseason camp but played less than five quarters because he was driven to the turf by Alabama’s Dallas Turner and forced from that game.
“I think there’s no doubt Quinn’s wants to play — he’s wanted to play since he first got injured at Alabama. He wanted to go back in the game mentally. He’s a highly-competitive young man. He’s worked at trying to get himself healthy,” Sarkisian said.
Ewers was healthy enough to participate in pregame warmups against UTSA, but he wasn’t able to throw full speed and did not participate fully with his teammates. The same is true for last Saturday’s game at Texas Tech. Sarkisian said that Ewers has been throwing the football for roughly to weeks now, but the team is taking a cautious approach with him.
“He’s been throwing now for about two to two and a half weeks and has gradually improved,” Sarkisian said. “Again, there’s a there’s a safety element to this thing. We want to make sure that we’re doing what’s in the best interests of Quinn, but also our team.”
When Ewers suffered the injury, the timetable for his return was about four to six weeks, so even if he doesn’t start or play on Saturday against West Virginia, he’s still within the original parameters of his diagnosis.
“He’s chomping at the bit,” Sarkisian said. “He’s working hard. I like the progression that he’s been making. So with all that, I think he’s in the right mental state of mind of wanting to get back out there staying engaged and doing the things necessary that we’re asking him to do.”
However, for a third straight week, Sarkisian declined to provide any further information about who will start at quarterback when the Mountaineers face the Horns in Austin.
“How long have I been doing interviews with you guys? Do you think I’d really given that answer? No. Valid question, I understand, but I’m not going to tell you.”
