Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers will lead the Longhorns against Georgia in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game, as he’s handed a second chance following his controversial benching when the two teams met earlier this season.
The Bulldogs are the only team to beat Texas this year, as they won 30-15 on Oct. 19. The Longhorns have been dominant heading into Saturday’s second meeting, while Georgia has struggled to take control of recent games and needed eight overtimes to beat Georgia Tech last week.
Ewers has been the Texas starter this season, although when facing the Bulldogs earlier this year, he was temporarily benched for backup Arch Manning. The Longhorns were down 20-0 when Manning replaced Ewers in the first half, although head coach Steve Sarkisian sent Ewers out as normal for the second half.
Sarkisian’s decision was described as “weird” at the time, although Ewers has since proven his “true character”, according to the head coach. Ewers had to deny reports he was looking to opt-out for the remainder of the season following the messy Georgia loss, but is now in a position to win the SEC Championship.
After that game, Ewers admitted that it “felt like a weird position to be in”, dipping in and out as a starter. His feelings were validated by former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, who gave his assessment of the situation.
“Coach Sark has come out and said that (Ewers) is his guy, hes our starter, so at no point throughout would I ever think I would see him have to go to the bench,” Manziel said on Action Network. “I thought this was a really weird decision.
“I dont think its a situation where you have to go to the sideline and look at something or anything like that.” Manning’s cameo didn’t go to plan, as he went 3 of 6 for 19 yards, and Ewers finished the game with 211 passing yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and two lost fumbles.
Ewers then had to post on Instagram to deny rumors that he would opt out and prepare for the 2025 NFL Draft, writing “fake news” over a false article which was later deleted. It was a lot for Ewers to overcome, but he led Texas to a 27-24 win over Vanderbilt the following week.
“If he plays like that for the rest of the year, we’re going to be OK. We’re going to be just fine,” Sarkisian said of Ewers, who had 228 passing yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions – although both were from tipped passes. “You can’t get worse than how it went for [Ewers] last week, especially in that first half, and then his ability to bounce back and show the resolve that he showed.”
“I always say that the sign of the true character of a man is in the face of adversity, and that was a lot of adversity for him, a lot of adversity for us as a team coming off last week’s game. I think the way he responded was kind of indicative of how we responded as a team.”
Want to watch more live sports? Peacock has your favorite sports, shows, and more all in one place. Peacock offers plans starting at $7.99 so you can stream live sports like NFL, Premier League, and Big Ten Football.
Leave a Reply