Quinn Ewers considered entering the 2024 NFL Draft before returning to the Longhorns and a crowded quarterback room at Texas based on a self-assessment that kicked back a decisive verdict.

He wasn’t ready.

“I think one of the main things for me was getting more experience under my belt,” Ewers said Wednesday in Dallas at SEC Media Days. “There is a line of demarcation for guys who really have success in the league and, obviously, there are some guys that have rare accounts of it not being this way, but there is a line, kind of 25. Twenty-five (college) starts – you see a jump in how their career went. I just kind of wanted to give myself a better chance to have a long and successful career in the NFL.

“I don’t want to be a guy that just comes and goes. I want to be somebody who is remembered.”

Ewers, 21, will make his 23rd career start on Aug. 31 in Texas’ season opener against Colorado State. Week 2 brings a road game to Ann Arbor to play defending national champion Michigan on a schedule that ends with a Nov. 30 trip to Texas A&M and features traditional Texas rival Oklahoma and a home game against Georgia on back-to-back Saturdays in October.

Ewers passed for 3,479 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions last season but began his college career at Ohio State. He transferred after one season and enrolled at Texas in January 2022, but he already had an education in Michigan football.

“To be the best, you’ve got to play the best. We’re all fired up to go up to Ann Arbor,” he said. “It’s actually my second time going up there. I was up there when Ohio State played ’em back in 2021. It’s going to be cool to go back up there and see, and now I understand the hatred that Ohio State has for them. I understand the rivalry.”

Still No. 1 on a depth chart that includes Arch Manning, Ewers’ evolution stands out to the Texas coaching staff.

“He’s changed his body, he looks great, he understands the system,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said of Ewers on Wednesday. “But the thing I’m probably most proud of him about is his leadership. This guy is exuding confidence right now, and there’s nothing better for anybody in your organization, for anybody in your building to walk in and to say, there’s our guy, and our guy is exuding confidence. He’s carrying himself the right way. He’s doing things the right way, not only on the field but off the field. He’s our leader, and we can unequivocally say that about Quinn Ewers, and I’m proud to have him with us today.”

–Field Level Media