Texas QB Quinn Ewers is ‘week to week’ with shoulder injury

Texas Longhorns redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers is “week to week” after suffering a right shoulder injury in Saturday’s win over the Houston Cougars, head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday in his weekly press conference, as is sophomore Jack end Ethan Burke.

“You never we never really know exactly how bodies respond to injury and so we’re just gonna have to monitor these guys on a weekly basis,” said Sarkisian. “Obviously, we’re going to do everything in our power to get both those guys back sooner rather than later, so we’ll see how that goes.”

Sarkisian also added senior safety Jalen Catalon to that list — the Arkansas transfer did not dress against Houston after suffering a leg injury in the Cotton Bowl loss to Oklahoma.

The injury to Ewers happened on a sack in the third quarter to start an eventual 11-play, 31-yard drive.

“I think obviously there’s a level of disappointment — nobody likes to get injured and I give him a lot of credit because he tried to play, that last drive he was not healthy. He tried to play through it. Clearly, he was limited and to his credit, he knew, ‘I don’t think I can do it,’ and then when our when our trainers and our medical staff told me the same thing, he knew what he was going to be able to give to the team wasn’t gonna be good enough,” said Sarkisian.

On the play, Ewers reportedly suffered a Grade 2 AC joint sprain, which is defined as “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 completing healing taking more time.

It’s the second straight year Ewers has suffered a shoulder injury after missing three games in 2022 with an SC sprain caused by a hit against Alabama.

“He does have a little bit of a blueprint and he knows what it takes to keep himself mentally sharp to be dialed into the game plan, to support the other guys, and how they can lean into him and offering that support and being a great teammate for all of the guys. In the end, I know he’s going to work tirelessly to try to get himself back,” said Sarkisian.

“Like I said, some guys are back sooner than others, you just don’t know, and so we’ll see how his body responds. I think it’s helpful, especially this time around, he’s in the best shape of his life and naturally when you’re in good shape, we respond better, we don’t stay sick as long, we don’t stay hurt as long and he’s in great shape. So hopefully we can get him back like I said sooner rather than later.”

A number of other players are also banged up for Texas — senior linebacker Jett Bush, senior defensive tackle Alfred Collins, and junior cornerback Gavin Holmes all left the Houston game with injuries, too. And that’s on top of senior cornerback Ryan Watts dressing but not playing and other minor injuries.

“We’re gonna have to monitor Gavin Holmes,” said Sarkisian. “We’re gonna have to monitor Terrance Brooks got a little nicked up. I think we’re more than hopeful that we’ll get Ryan Watts back this week which will be big for us.”

Depending on the availability at cornerback, Sarkisian said that the staff will consider using senior nickel back Jahdae Barron there. Barron himself missed the first half on Saturday due to an undisclosed injury, but played cornerback before moving to the nickel and also has the versatility to play safety, according to Sarkisian.

At quarterback, Sarkisian said that redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy, who replaced Ewers on Saturday, would start if the game were on Monday.