Quinn Ewers shares thoughts on Washington defense

Texas and second-year quarterback Quinn Ewers are going up against a Washington passing defense that has struggled at times this season, finishing 92nd nationally in pass yards allowed. But Ewers and the Longhorns have plenty of respect for what the Huskies do defensively.

It’s not that Washington does anything funky or special or even that many different things, Ewers said. They just do what they do well and do it consistently, he said.

“I think they play really hard. They don’t do a ton of stuff, from recent teams we’ve seen. But what they do, they’re really good at. And I think that’s their focus, stick to what they like to do and what they’re good at. And they play really hard and they play well together. And they’re coached really well. Should be a fun matchup,” Ewers said.

And despite running back Bijan Robinson opting out, Ewers will still have plenty of weapons with the likes of Xavier Worth and Ja’Tavion Sanders running routes.

Ewers discussed his connection with Worthy and Sanders

Ewers spoke about his connection with the two, starting with Sanders, which actually dates back before the two arrived in Austin.

“Me and JT we’ve known each other even before coming to Texas together and we’ve thrown a couple times before we got on campus and even in practices we’ve just built a great connection,” Ewers said.

Sanders was a five-star prospect in high school out of Denton, Texas, just a little over 30 minutes away from Ewers home town of Southlake. He spent his freshman season mainly helping the Longhorns out on special teams, but blossomed this season as Texas’ starting tight end.

Ewers fed Sanders this season, as he ranked second on the team in receptions this year with 49 along with 577 receiving yards, both of which ranked No. 1 in the Big 12 amongst tight ends. He also added five receiving touchdowns to his stat line this season and earned first-team All-Big 12 honors from the conference and the Associated Press along the way.

Sanders was undoubtedly one of Ewers’ favorite targets this season, but his go-to guy was Worthy, who ended the regular season with the most touchdown receptions in the Big 12 with nine scoring grabs. Their connection has been on point all season, and while preparing for the bowl game, the duo kept things simple and fine-tuned their skills.

“And you know with X, we kind of went back to basics. Like we were talking about before, these bowl practices you really just kind of get that feel back whether it’s deep balls or just short game and stuff like that,” Ewers said.

Worthy was one of the most dangerous and explosive players in the Big 12 this season, earning second-team all-conference honors at wide receiver and also serving as the Longhorns’ primary punt returner. Like Sanders, he too is only a sophomore, but has already played in and started in 24 games for the Texas in his young career.