Three Count: Rock Chalk, DJ Campbell and a freshman surge, Quinn Ewers the game manager

The penultimate Three Count of the 2022 regular season covers why Texas fans should be rooting for Kansas, DJ Campbell‘s late-season success, freshmen O-linemen in Lawrence, and Quinn Ewers taking on a game management role to help the Longhorns win.

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Rock Chalk

The Oklahoma Sooners did the Texas Longhorns, their chief rival regional, a massive favor on Saturday in taking down their chief in-state rival, Oklahoma State. In a return to the norm in Bedlam, the Sooners jumped all over the Cowboys in Norman, Okla. and held on to win the grudge match 28-13.

Despite Scipio Tex’s likely protestations, Longhorn fans had good reason to root for OU (though he might relent on this occasion considering when he penned his column about not rooting for Oklahoma, they were in the College Football Playoff). Texas needed to win out and see losses from Oklahoma State and Kansas State in order to reach the Big 12 Championship game.

Step 1) Defeat Kansas. Check.

Step 2) Oklahoma State loses a game. Check.

Ahead of the Longhorns is step 3) Defeat Baylor and step 4) see Kansas State lose.

Texas will know if it needs to be really rooting against K-State by the time Saturday rolls around, with the Longhorns playing Baylor on Friday morning. Texas’ hopes for a 13th data point will come down to the Kansas Jayhawks, a team UT trounced 55-14 on Saturday.

This edition of the Sunflower Showdown will receive the primetime treatment from Fox. Kansas is 6-5 and bowl eligible for the first time since 2008. Kansas State is ranked in the top 15 and is playing a style Chris Klieman perfected at North Dakota State.

Since Kansas’ 52-21 win over KSU in 2008, only two games between the programs have been one possession affairs, testaments to both the lack of quality in the KU program since Mark Mangino left and the high quality of the KSU program under Bill Snyder and his successor in Klieman.

But Kansas is as formidable as they’ve been in some time, last week’s result aside. Jalon Daniels will only get healthier this week, a tremendous boost for a Jayhawk team that needs his electricity to fire on all cylinders.

So in full force in Lawrence, Kan., in pockets at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday, and even in some areas of Austin, Texas, pending a Longhorn win, the ‘Rock Chalk’ chant will be heard.

Campbell and his fellow freshmen

The highest rated member of Texas’ 2022 recruiting class was Arlington (Texas) Bowie offensive lineman DJ Campbell, who the On3 Consensus rated as the No. 11 overall prospect in the country.

Texas’ win over Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, USC, and other national powers earned Steve Sarkisian and Kyle Flood the crown jewel of Texas’ seven-man offensive lineman class, with fellow five-star Kelvin Banks possessing a ranking in Campbell’s neighborhood.

Banks found his way to the field first, taking the left tackle job in training camp and looking like an All-American in year one. Campbell, however, was limited to mop-up duty behind sophomore Hayden Conner and classmate Cole Hutson in the first part of the year.

Conner had experience on his side. Hutson, who enrolled early, received a head start not available to Campbell since he enrolled in the summer. Even with a lofty ranking, there was work to be done to catch up to those two.

Both Conner and Hutson have performed well for most of the season, with some down games any football player will have. But of late, Campbell has earned the right to play in snaps at guard in competitive games. It started in Stillwater, Okla. versus Oklahoma State, and has continued all the way through Saturday’s contest versus the Jayhawks.

“He’s learning,” Jake Majors said Saturday. “He’s growing. That’s just the biggest thing, how much can he develop throughout the season. He may not get that many snaps but when he does, is he executing the way he should? Right now, he is. I’m proud of him.”

Campbell’s late season surge is welcome news to star-gazers and especially Inside Texas’ WilliamsDavid, who finally saw his recruiting crush don burnt orange when it came time to play the signing day hat game.

In addition to Campbell, his classmates have received ample opportunity to play this year, too, often in concert. All seven offensive linemen signed in the 2022 class were on Texas’ travel roster for Lawrence, and likely were on the travel list at an earlier juncture. In the late stages of Saturday’s game, an offensive line that went (L-R) Neto Umeozulu – Malik Agbo – Logan Parr – DJ Campbell – Cam Williams took over for the first five. They helped spring Jonathon Brooks free on his late game touchdown run.

The future is bright in the offensive trenches for the Longhorns. Banks has been a star all year. Hutson is holding his own less than a year after enrolling. But Campbell’s rise, late for some and on-time for others, is evidence of what Flood has at his disposal in the coming seasons.

Managing Quinn Ewers

Quinn Ewers was not a five-star quarterback versus TCU, plain and simple. He missed deep shots and even some underneath routes a player of his ability should not miss.

To Ewers’ credit last week, he admitted he needed to work on fundamentals like footwork. Those fundamentals appeared to be much better against Kansas not just while passing, but when handing off and faking plays.

Sarkisian also deserves some credit for designing a game plan that 1) attacked the Jayhawks’ defensive weaknesses and 2) didn’t ask Ewers to do too much. He missed one throw badly, a screen while Texas had a comfortable lead. Everything else was on target. He wasn’t a big reason behind the win, but he was surely part of the formula for success.

He managed the game, something he had no problem with.

“I really just have to become the game manager at that point,” Ewers said Saturday. “Every game I have to be the game manager, but even more I feel like I have to manage certain things better.”

Ewers has talent, but he’s also a freshman. The game plan Sarkisian deployed against Kansas treated him like a talented freshman on the road, and Ewers was able to succeed within it. He even picked up some yards while ad libbing on the ground

In time, he’ll have more on his plate. Ewers will have to show he can handle more on his plate. He’s been sporadic in that area, as most freshmen are. But players of his projected quality can find fans to be impatient when that sporadic play arrives.

However, Ewers deserves some kudos for taking the ups and downs of his play in stride, accepting a smaller role within the flow of the offense, and making good on his opportunities.

Whether that can continue against Baylor remains to be seen. Whether it should? Well, 55-14 is a strong indicator that the Longhorn game plan in Lawrence is a good idea for Friday morning.