Last Saturday’s game against TCU did not go the way that Quinn Ewers intended it to.

Texas’ starting quarterback completed 17 out of 39 passing attempts against TCU, netting 171 yards. Ewers was also intercepted once and sacked twice. 

While many fans were not pleased with his performance, many people forget that Ewers, although very talented, is not as experienced as his predecessors. 

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Former Texas quarterback and fan-favorite Sam Ehlinger, who now plays for the Indianapolis Colts, had similar stats to Ewers. Ehlinger played in nine games as a freshman in 2017. He ended the year with a 57.5% completion rate, 1,915 total yards passing, 11 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 124.1 passer rating.

Through his first seven games, Ewers is showing similar numbers. He currently holds a 55.2% completion rate, 1,507 total yards passing, 13 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 129.5 passer rating. 

But there are noticeable differences between Ehlinger and Ewers. As a high school prospect, Ehlinger had a 0.9446 composite rating and was considered the 119th best prospect in the nation, respectively. Ewers received a perfect 1.0000 247Sports composite rating and was considered the No. 1 overall prospect in the country, respectively. 

So understandably, the expectations for Ewers are pretty high. But high expectations do not exempt anyone from growing pains. 

The TCU game was only Ewers’ seventh career start. During his time at Ohio State, Ewers did not play any meaningful snaps for the Buckeyes. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day put Ewers in a game for the first time on Nov. 20, 2021. Ewers played two snaps in Ohio State’s blowout 56-7 win over Michigan State. 

Prior to Texas’ season opener against ULM, the last complete game Ewers played was on Jan. 16, 2021, when he was still a high school junior. Ewers led the Southlake Carroll Dragons in the UIL 6A Division I championship game against the Westlake Chaparrals, where Southlake fell 52-34 to Westlake. 

So while Ewers is technically in his second year of college football, he’s still learning as he goes. And Ewers makes it clear that he knows he has things to work on.

“I think the past couple of games I’ve gotten too lazy with my feet,” he said. “It’s just plain and simple, I just need to get better at that, whether it’s setting up in a certain gap or dropping straight back.” 

As Ewers continues to learn, there’s no reason for serious panic whenever he makes a mistake. Yes, plenty of points have been left on the table this season, and Texas has lost some winnable games. But not all of Texas’ shortfalls are on Ewers. No loss can truly be attributed to any single player. 

While Ewers may not be the perfect quarterback that some expect him to be, everything that he’s done this season serves as a learning experience that’ll get him to where he wants to be.