Analyst Believes Quinn Ewers Deserves More Credit

When the Miami Dolphins used the 231st pick in the NFL Draft to select Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers, a new era officially began on the Forty Acres. 

His departure meant that redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning would officially earn the coveted starting position ahead of the 2025 season. 

Manning spent his first two seasons at Texas as Ewers’ backup, watching him navigate through the highs and lows of being at the team’s helm.

Ewers' Impact on Longhorns

During his three year tenure, the Southlake, Texas, native led the Longhorns to a Big 12 Championship, two College Football Playoff semifinals and three winning records. By several measures, this marks a successful collegiate football career.

That being said, he found himself subject to ongoing public scrutiny. He appeared frequently in the media, oftentimes being blamed for Texas’ inability to win a title during back-to-back runs in the College Football Playoff.

FOX Sports college football analyst RJ Young, however, has a different take on Ewers’ value on Texas’ football program.

Rather than preventing the program from achieving success, Young argues that the quarterback helped heighten their standards for it.

“I would actually say to you: Quinn Ewers is the man who allows for what was once a joke to be absolutely true in three words… Texas is back,” he said.

It’s difficult to determine the extent of which this statement rings true, but there are a couple of statistics that do support the claim. 

Texas accumulated a losing record of 5-7 in 2021, the year before Ewers arrived. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, he helped the Longhorns accumulate respective records of 8-5, 12-2 and 13-3. They also hadn’t won a Big 12 Championship since 2009 before he and the rest of his team accomplished it in 2023.

Once again, he had a team and a coaching staff around him that obviously helped revamp this team alongside Ewers. But Young believes Ewers is heavily responsible for contributing to the acquisition of one particular Longhorn recruit.

“I don’t think they land Arch Manning if he doesn’t come to Texas and succeed,” he said. 

According to Young, moments like the 10-point road win against Alabama and the winning record in 2022 made Texas more appealing as a landing spot for highly ranked recruits.

Manning committed in June 2022, after Ewers had arrived and started planting the seeds for the program to elevate its reputation once again. 

Whether or not his net impact as a player is negative or positive is a matter of opinion at the end of the day, but Young believes the new Dolphins rookie should be credited for how far they made it instead of criticized on the grounds of not taking them far enough.