Texas' results in upcoming games could factor into Quinn Ewers' timeline to return

Texas has a potential problem on its hand with the shoulder injury suffered by quarterback Quinn Ewers. Ewers has an AC joint sprain in his right shoulder, and the timetable for his return is unknown.

Bobby Burton of Inside Texas appeared on Andy Staples’ podcast Tuesday to discuss the state of the Longhorns season with the On3 host. The conversation, unsurprisingly, turned to Ewers at some point.

“Sark described him as week to week,” Burton said. “From behind the scenes, what we’re hearing, three to four weeks maybe. That’s what they’re hopeful for or when himself and his family are hopeful for. But we don’t know. It could linger. It’s an injury to your point that is nonspecific in its length of time for recovery. It’s not a torn meniscus, and he’s out for two weeks, right? It’s more questionable.”

Ewers has thrown for 1,915 yards, 13 touchdowns and just three interceptions with a 70.9% completion percentage while also rushing in another five scores. Prior to his injury against Houston this past Saturday, Ewers had been 23 of 29 for 211 yards and two touchdowns.

After Ewers left the game due to the injury, redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy played the rest of the game at quarterback.

After Murphy, former No. 1 overall recruit Arch Manning is next up on the depth chart.

Sarkisian said Monday that if the game was being played that day, Murphy would be the starter with Manning ready to go as the backup.

Burton also said another factor could come into play for Ewers’ potential return: whether the team needs him to return. The 6-1 Longhorns have five games remaining this season against the following opponents: BYU, Kansas State, TCU, Iowa State and Texas Tech. None of those teams are ranked, although the Wildcats and Cougars are 5-2 and the Cyclones are 3-1 in conference play.

Ewers and Texas still has College Football Playoff hopes for this season. But having Ewers return early might not be the best thing for him in the long run, and Burton implied that the Longhorns will take that heavily into consideration as they consider when best to have Ewers return to the field.

“It’s going to be a lot about pain tolerance, and perhaps about how much Texas really needs him to,” Burton said. “We’ll see if that comes into play. You don’t want to risk the golden arm. This is a guy that has a lot of football ahead of him in his career, not just at Texas.”