Steve Sarkisian explains not playing backup Hudson Card at quarterback

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is known for his explosive offenses and great quarterback play, going back to his time as a coordinator. This season, he had a quarterback battle in the Spring between Quinn Ewers and Hudson Card, which ultimately Ewers won. His upside is simply too much to ignore.

Unfortunately, for Texas, Ewers struggled in the game against TCU. He completed less than half of his passes and threw an interception. It was a game that the Longhorns needed to win at home, but couldn’t. This also led to questions about whether Steve Sarkisian should move on from Ewers for the veteran Card.

During his postgame press conference following the loss to TCU, Steve Sarkisian was asked if he ever considered making a change at quarterback.

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“I mean, to me, it wasn’t all on Quinn. I think that everybody took turns tonight. We were just off. Then, that probably wouldn’t have been fair to Hudson to put him in at the end of the game to try to save the day with a couple minutes to go. So, you know, I thought Quinn continued to compete. A couple of unfortunate errors to where the ball kind of gets knocked out of his hand and different things happen,” Steve Sarkisian said.

“He slips, and so it was just one of those nights where things just, we couldn’t get into any sort of rhythm. And, again, I’m sure Quinn will tell you he would’ve loved to play better but I think everybody on offense could say the same thing. We all could have played better.”

The problem for Texas is that this isn’t Ewers’ first bad game. He also struggled against Oklahoma State, with just a 38.8% completion percentage in that game. So, while he has flashed his ability, his consistency is an issue for the Texas offense. That’s less of a problem for the veteran, Card, who has experience as the starter at Texas.

Deciding who the quarterback at Texas is going to be won’t get any easier for Steve Sarkisian. Arch Manning, a five-star recruit and the top prospect in the Class of 2023, is committed to Texas. Ewers reclassified to the Class of 2021, where he was a five-star and the top quarterback.

It’s a good problem to have, but Sarkisian will need to decide between two phenoms soon.

Steve Sarkisian believes Texas can fix its maturity issues

Texas has had issues with its maturity, in particular on the offensive side of the ball, this season. It’s led to penalty issues that can potentially cost them on the field. However, head coach Steve Sarkisian thinks the team can fix its immaturity issues before taking on Kansas.

“I think you lean into the veterans. You lead into the experienced guys. You lean into the players that you know have that maturity and then you try to use them as an example of what it looks like for the other guys on the team,” Steve Sarkisian said.

“I think the other side of it, from a coach’s perspective, is you try to recognize things like that maybe potentially happening sooner and making sure we’re doing things for them that gets their confidence right back to having belief in their own abilities.”