No. 1 Texas football plays its first conference game as an SEC member when it hosts Mississippi State at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday (3:15 p.m., SEC Network) and quarterback Quinn Ewers won’t be on the field for the Longhorns.
Horns247’s Chip Brown confirmed through a source Saturday morning that Ewers was expected to miss his second game in a row due to an abdominal strain he suffered in the team’s 56-7 win over UTSA on Sept. 14.
The conference opener for Texas (4-0, 0-0 SEC) marked the first time football coach Steve Sarkisian submitted an injury report to the league. The SEC made initial injury reports for Week 5 public on Wednesday and Ewers had been listed as questionable through Friday’s update, but he was ruled out in the last update issued 90 minutes before kickoff.
After Sarkisian said he’d list Ewers as questionable if he had to submit an injury report ahead of the team’s 51-3 win over Louisiana-Monroe and 11 days after coming down with the injury, he mentioned during his weekly pregame Zoom meeting with reporters on Thursday that he expected to decide by Friday whether Ewers or Arch Manning would get the nod to start against the Bulldogs.
“We’re not trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes,” said Sarkisian, whose offense will be operated by Manning for the second week in a row. “Just wanted to give Quinn every opportunity to see if he’s ready to play and what he looks like. I’d say he’s improved every day.”
Sarkisian said Ewers practiced Monday morning before the head coach’s weekly news conference. How Ewers bounced back on Tuesday and the ensuing days after practicing would go a long way toward determining whether Ewers or Manning will be QB1 for the Mississippi State (1-3, 0-1 SEC) game.
Sarkisian kept it close to the vest when pressed for what Ewers needs to do on the practice field to feel comfortable with the redshirt junior returning to the lineup.
“He’s got to do enough to show me he can play,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve got a game plan. Can he execute the game plan? I hate to pare it down to that, but that’s really the truth.”
Ewers, who went 14-for-16 for 185 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the 56-7 win over the Roadrunners before departing, was on the sideline for the rout of the Warhawks. Ewers wore an earpiece and helped Manning during his first career start, one in which the redshirt freshman went 15-for-29 for 223 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“I thought Quinn was great tonight,” Sarkisian said after the win over ULM. “I had a really good conversation with him on the field before the game. He was upbeat, he was positive and we talked about him doing his best to keep it light with Arch.”
Sarkisian has openly discussed the unfortunate nature of Ewers’ latest injury setback. Unlike the left sternoclavicular injury in 2022 after he was driven into the turf in a home loss to Alabama, or the AC joint sprain to his right (throwing) shoulder after taking a direct hit in a road win last October over Houston, the abdominal strain was a non-contact injury.
The previous two injuries put Ewers on the shelf for three and two games, respectively.
The abdominal injury Ewers is dealing with is often associated with baseball injuries. Sarkisian confirmed that Ewers felt discomfort after completing a 49-yard pass to Gunnar Helm against UTSA.
If there’s a silver lining, however, it’s that Ewers is familiar with the recovery process.
Sarkisian has said throughout the last 11 days that he’s not worried about Ewers pushing himself to where the situation becomes detrimental to himself or the team. Until Ewers returns, Sarkisian expects his veteran quarterback to do what he can to be an asset for the Longhorns.
“He’s been through this, and he knows what it looks like, of staying engaged and staying positive and still being a really good leader,” Sarkisian said. “With all that being said, hopefully, we can get him back sooner rather than later.
“I want to make sure he’s healthy enough to play at a high level and can he go operate the game plan that we have in place for him.”
