Reports: Texas QB Quinn Ewers has a right AC joint sprain

HOUSTON — Texas Longhorns redshirt sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers suffered a right shoulder injury in the third quarter on Saturday at TDECU Stadium against the Houston Cougars and did not return to the game.

Ewers seemingly suffered the injury on a four-yard scramble when he opted against sliding and instead lowered his right shoulder into 6’4, 250-pound Houston defensive end David Ugwoegbu, who initially suffered the worst of the collision and remained down on the field. For the remainder of the drive, which ended in a field goal following consecutive incompletions, Ewers remained in the game before receiving attention in the medical tent.

Ewers eventually went to the Texas locker room, emerging later in the fourth quarter with his right arm in a sling, ending his appearance 23-of-29 passing for 211 yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s got a hurt shoulder,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian confirmed after the game. “We’ll know more tomorrow on kind of the extent of it. He tried to play through it, but we didn’t feel comfortable enough with his ability to continue to play and that’s when Maalik went in the game.”

On Sunday, however, Anwar Richardson of Orangebloods reported that the injury is an AC joint sprain and that it occurred on a sack, not the big collision on the scramble. According to the report, there is no timetable for Ewers to return, but there is hope that his season is not over. ESPN’s Pete Thamel confirmed the report, saying that Ewers has a Grade 2 AC joint sprain, “a complete tear of the AC ligaments and a sprain or partial tear of the coracoclavicular (CC) ligaments” which typically requires two to four weeks of rehabilitation before returning to activities with complete healing taking more time.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Maalik Murphy replaced Ewers, throwing only two passes on his first two drives before kneeling out the game, including one completion, as the Longhorns took a 31-24 lead on a fourth-quarter drive that featured five running plays and ended with a rushing touchdown.

“I think the one thing about this team and the way we practice, the team’s got a lot of confidence in Maalik and really Arch (Manning), because I know how well those guys competed,” Sarkisian said.

“And so in the end, I’m hopeful Quinn continued to go and we’ll find out what the extent of that is, but I also know that we’ve got two quality players at that position, that they’ve got a great supporting cast around them with a good O-line, good runners, good receivers. So you know, we’ll devise a plan, and whoever that quarterback is, to hopefully to have success in the next ball game.”