The last time Quinn Ewers played a football game in the Lone Star State, he was on the losing end of the 2020 Class 6A title game when Southlake Carroll fell to Westlake.
Fast forward more than a year to Saturday, and the San Antonio-born Ewers shook off an interception to lead the University of Texas (UT) Longhorns to a 52-10 victory over Louisiana-Monroe at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium.
Ewers won the coveted starting job after his transfer to UT from Ohio State, winning second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian’s favor over Lake Travis graduate Hudson Card.
Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported that the 6-foot-2, 206-pound signal-caller finished Saturday evening with 225 yards and two touchdowns on 16-for-24 passing to overcome the turnover that occurred in his second pass attempt.
“I don’t think anyone wants to throw an interception on their second career pass, but I think it was a good learning lesson for him,” Sarkisian said, according to KXAN.
To hear Ewers tell it, the pick was just a minor hiccup.
“I like to think of myself as a laid back guy,” the redshirt freshman told the station. “I don’t let interceptions affect the way I play.”
KXAN reported that one of Ewers’ first pair of touchdowns as a Longhorn went to junior rusher Bijan Robinson, who’s in the Heisman Trophy conversation.
Ewers won’t only remember his first UT game for his perseverance, but an incident that took place away from the gridiron.
According to Yahoo Sports, the quarterback’s vehicle was towed away by the school’s campus parking services.
The website reported that Ewers acknowledged he was a regular student and added he had to pay a fine to get the car back, to which Robinson advised him to get dropped at DKR from that point on.
Up next for Ewers and UT is a monumental home matchup against perennial national championship favorite Alabama on Saturday.