BON Roundtable: Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning, and the Texas bullpen

With Quinn Ewers and Hudson Card not separating themselves so far, Texas fans are in for another QB carousel this season. Overreaction?

Cameron Parker (@camerondparker) - I won’t be surprised if Hudson Card and Quinn Ewers start this season, maybe even split reps as Sark did with Card and Casey Thompson. The good news for Texas fans is that Ewers got here for spring ball so he has a lot of time to improve and learn the system. I would still bet on Ewers to end up the starter but I’m not expecting Card to roll over and let that happen without a fight.

Gerald Goodridge (@ghgoodridge) - Overreaction. There could be a lot of factors at play as to why there hasn’t been much separation as of late. We probably won’t know who the starter is until the week of game prep anyway, so I am not really reading much into it. That being said, I could see a situation where depending on what happens in the first two weeks of the year, Sark makes a change and then rides the other QB for the remainder of the season – barring injury – like we saw in 2021.

Daniel Seahorn (@DanielSeahorn) - Overreaction. Still a lot of time left in spring ball. Still a lot of time left before season and we likely won’t have an answer before then anyway.

Wescott Eberts (@SBN_Wescott) - Texas practice for the fifth time on Thursday and the competition between Hudson Card and Quinn Ewers has always been likely to reach well into preseason camp, so it’s not surprising that the two quarterbacks are still splitting reps. So this is a definite overreaction, though counting on a quarterback in Ewers who should be in his final semester of high school is a stretch – at this point, I wouldn’t bet on either quarterback starting every game this season.

The issues in the Texas bullpen are unfixable and it will come down to how many runs the bats can score for the Horns to reach Omaha. Overreaction?

Cameron - Unfortunately I don’t think so. Pierce kept a short bullpen rotation in the College World Series last season and Witt was a big part of that. Now that he’s out for the season, who takes his place? Rather, who do you trust? Pierce is still looking for 1 or 2 more go-to guys out of the bullpen and right now they’re struggling.

Gerald - I’m normally pretty optimistic, but not feels like the right answer for this one. It’s insane to me that apparently, Tanner Witt’s UCL was the only thing holding together the pitching staff. There’s something to be said about walking onto the mound and knowing you’ve got better stuff than they can handle and I am not 100% convinced that anyone in the bullpen feels that way right now.

Daniel - I’m going to lean towards not on this one. I’m not going to say definitively that something can’t get fixed with the pitching over time, but it is extremely alarming that the Texas lineup is regularly putting up crooked numbers and the arms end up letting them down. This is as good of an offense Texas baseball has had in some time and it would be really disappointing to see it go to waste.

Wescott - I think the mental issues that are contributing to the command issues in the bullpen are fixable, but I’m more concerned about whether pitchers like Travis Sthele and Jared Southard can consistently find the strike zone. Aaron Nixon at least has done it before. Some of the transfer arms, like Zane Morehouse, Marcus Olivarez, and Daniel Blair, have not proven their capability at this level. Most likely, the offense will have to carry the Longhorns unless some of those pitchers make major strides during conference play and Nixon returns to his freshman form.

With Arch Manning on campus this past weekend along with other big recruits, Texas has to be the frontrunner for the QB? Overreaction?

Cameron - Nope. It truly feels like all indicators point to Texas as the favorite right now despite Arch and the Manning family playing it close to the vest. Early in the recruitment, it was hard to tell what his interest was but the fact Texas is still in this despite last season tell’s me he’s more interested in the scheme he’ll playing in and the coaches around him. That alone likes UT’s chances of landing him.

Gerald - Not. At this point there are enough breadcrumbs to feel confident in where Texas stands, in spite of all of the things that seem to be factors against them. Even in today’s landscape, recruiting is a game of relationships and it seems like Sark and Milwee have done a great job of building a relationship with Arch and his family. The recent prediction of Arch’s teammate and friend Will Randle to Texas didn’t do much to dampen my opinion.

Daniel - Not. The Manning family certainly isn’t tipping their hand, but if you been following the data points you have to like where the Longhorns stand. For a good portion of this recruitment, reporters have played musical chairs with which schools were the lead dogs for Arch, but the one constant for all of them has been Texas near the top of list or at the top. The most consistent players in this recruitment have been Texas, Alabama, and Georgia. I think nationally people don’t want to buy into the fact that Manning would pick Texas over Alabama or Georgia, but I think there are a lot of layers to this recruitment that are favorable for the Longhorns.

Wescott - This is not an overreaction because I believe that Texas is the frontrunner for Manning. Compared to the other finalists, with the possible exception of Ole Miss, which has been competitive but not great, Texas is the only program that can’t sell recent success to Manning and that’s exactly what is so telling about the Horns still being in the race for Manning – it feels like Texas is where he wants to be, the family is just concerned about whether head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff can rebuild the Longhorns into a serious contender again.

Texas Women’s losing in the Elite Eight to 1-seed Stanford is a disappointment and this season was a failure for Vic Schaefer. Overreaction?

Cameron - Massive overreaction. Outside of Ebo, Warren, and Allen-Taylor, Schaefer had a pretty young team on his hands and they’re only going to get better. Back to back Elite Eight’s is quite an accomplishment and I’ll say unexpected when Vic took the job last season. We expected it to be a work in process, and while Vic will say it still is, the Horns are in a great position for success the next few years.

Gerald - Biggest overreaction of the roundtable. I’ve been saying all year that the women’s basketball team is ahead of schedule. Two of the Longhorns’ biggest contributors in the tournament were Rori Harmon and Aaliyah Moore – a pair of true freshmen. Texas needs to get more consistent and athletic in the post, but this is now the expectation for women’s basketball under Schaefer.

Daniel - Overreaction. Vic Schaefer has hit the ground running from day one in Austin and I think it’s pretty evident that he is going to have this program competing at a high level year in and out. Trust the process and let him keep plugging away and I think Texas fans will be happy with the results over time.

Wescott - Absolutely not. I don’t think the roster is quite where Vic Schaefer wants it yet – the Horns need to get more athletic and present more of a threat from three-point range – but this season was a definite success, ending only at the hands of last season’s national champions. Schaefer has already built the foundation and Texas appears poised to compete for a title sooner rather than later, perhaps next season, even.