Four Texas QBs will travel to Lubbock to face Texas Tech

Redshirt freshman Quinn Ewers will be among the four quarterbacks traveling for the Texas Longhorns this week for the season’s first road game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday.

Ewers was a partial participant in pre-game warmups before last Saturday’s game against UTSA and dressed but did not play one week after suffering an SC sprain in the loss to Alabama.

Redshirt sophomore Hudson Card, redshirt freshman Charles Wright, and freshman Maalik Murphy will also make the trip to the South Plains.

“All of our guys have had a better week than they had a week ago, that’s for sure, so confident about that,” Sarkisian said.

Card started against the Roadrunners despite battling an ankle injury and Murphy is recovering from an undisclosed injury. On Thursday, Sarkisian did not reveal who will start in Lubbock, but did say that it will not be a game-time decision.

“We’re going to tell them who’s starting beforehand,” Sarkisian said.

The most likely starter is Card for a second straight week after going 15-of-23 passing for 161 yards and a touchdown against UTSA, along with two carries for 35 yards. If Card does receive the start, it will be his first on the road since the brutal loss at Arkansas last season, a game for which Sarkisian believes Card received too much blame.

“We played terrible as a team,” Sarkisian said. “We coached terrible as a staff — we didn’t have our team ready to play and so naturally as the quarterback goes, you get more credit than you deserve when things go well and you get more blame than you deserve when things don’t go well.”

But Card was still benched after that performance and never regained the starting role even though Casey Thompson battled through a thumb injury sustained in the Oklahoma game. Card then faced more adversity when the quarterback battle that lasted from spring practice into preseason camp ended with Ewers named the starter. When Card had a chance to contribute once again when Ewers was injured, he quickly suffered an ankle injury of his own.

“I think Hutson has really matured mentally. I think he’s more than capable of of operating our offense and doing it at a high level,” Sarkisian said.

“I’ve been really proud of Hudson and all that he means to our program and we’re really lucky to have him.”

The trip will also mark an important experience for Murphy, who Sarkisian said has been practicing well.

“I’ve been impressed with Malik this week,” Sarkisian said. “I think that he has made really good strides. Again, I touched on it as compared to a week ago from where he was to where he was this week. So I think those this is invaluable experience for quarterbacks to be able to go on the road, to be involved in the game planning, to hear play calls, to hear adjustments, so to get him to be able to go with us this week, I think is real positive.”