Steve Sarkisian updates health of quarterback room ahead of Red River Rivalry

On3 imageby:On3 Staff Report10/03/22

Texas will head into the annual Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma with a full complement of quarterbacks. Following a clavicle injury in Week 2, Quinn Ewers‘ injury recovery has come along enough that he’ll be available this weekend barring any late setbacks.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian has addressed his quarterback situation a couple times, with backup Hudson Card having played well in Ewers’ absence. He provided the latest on Monday.

“We’re healthier than we’ve ever been since the start of the season,” Sarkisian said, according to Joe Cook, the managing editor of InsideTexas on the On3 network. “That’s a positive. We’ll see how the week goes.”

Ewers started the first two games for the Longhorns before exiting early in the game against No. 1 Alabama. Card took over and nearly led Texas to an upset win.

In a game and change this season, Ewers has gone 25-of-36 passing for 359 yards and two touchdowns. He threw one interception.

Card, playing in his stead, has led Texas to a pair of wins over UTSA and West Virginia, while dropping a 37-34 overtime heart-breaker at Texas Tech. He is 74-of-107 passing for 923 yards with six touchdowns and one interception.

Sarkisian has been extremely complimentary of the job Card has done stepping up as the starter.

“I give Hudson a lot of credit,” Sarkisian said. “I go back to two months ago when he didn’t get named the starter. A lot of guys in that position I don’t want to say (would) fold the tent, but it’s hard to stay focused. It’s hard to come out to practice every day with the same mental intensity and do what you need to do. But the reality of it is you’re a play away from ending up being the guy. I give Hudson a lot of credit. He stayed engaged.”

If Quinn Ewers’ injury is a non-factor will he start vs. Oklahoma?

For the last several days the expectation has been that the earliest Ewers might be ready to return is against Oklahoma.

Sarkisian’s comments Monday lent a little more credence to that line of thinking.

Still, the second-year Texas head coach said as recently as this weekend that the reason Card continued to start was that Ewers wasn’t quite healthy enough. Whether that dynamic changes going into this weekend will bear monitoring.

“Hudson’s more healthy. We haven’t been healthy at that position for a month, and Hudson is just more healthy right now,” Sarkisian said after the win over West Virginia on Saturday. “Again, I have a responsibility to our football team to put the players out there that give us the best opportunity to have success. I have a responsibility each individual player on our team to make sure that if I put them out there, that they’re capable of playing and playing at a high level and that they’re they’re comfortable enough to do it from a safety standpoint.

“It’s been it’s been uncomfortable, especially a month ago of what we were going to do with the position, but it’s getting more comfortable by the week. I just felt like Hudson was was more healthy than Quinn, and that’s why he was out there.”