Texas QB Quinn Ewers to start at TCU

The Texas Longhorns will get redshirt sophomore starting quarterback Quinn Ewers back for Saturday’s game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian announced during this Thursday media availability.

“I thought his approach to the injury was very professional. He stayed very engaged with the team,” said Sarkisian. “He was wearing the headset on the sidelines, so when he really came back to practice this week, it didn’t feel like there was a lot of rust, not physically, but mentally. He went out the last two days and I felt like there wasn’t a throw he couldn’t make.”

Ewers started throwing in practice last week and wasn’t limited at all this week after missing the wins over BYU and Kansas State due to n AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder suffered against Houston. In place of Ewers, redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy started at quarterback in those two games with mixed results — a handful of highlight-worthy throws interspersed with four turnovers, including three interceptions. Murphy was 35-of-62 passing for 418 yards with three touchdowns as a starter.

On Monday, Ewers teased his availability for Saturday’s game with an Instagram stories post that featured lyrics from a Merle Haggard song — “Turn me loose, set me free.”

During Sarkisian’s Monday press conference, he upgraded Ewers from “week to week” to “day to day” even though Ewers didn’t go through warmups or dress for Saturday’s overtime win over Kansas State.

“He started to throw a little bit last week and he threw again today,” said Sarkisian. “To me it’s more day to day at this point where a few weeks ago couple weeks ago it was kind of week to week. Today’s more day to day and I’ve got to continue to see how he feels... I can give my assessment on the capability to operate our offense, but ultimately, how does he feel? And so we’ll navigate that this week.”

Ewers may have had some extra motivation to get back quickly — the loss to TCU last year was one of his worst performances of the season in which he was 17-of-39 passing for 171 yards and an interception.

Senior safeties Jalen Catalon and Kitan Crawford will also be available against the Horned Frogs. Catalon hasn’t played since injuring his leg against Oklahoma and Crawford missed last week’s win over Kansas State with an undisclosed injury. According to Sarkisian, senior right tackle Christian Jones is available after dressing but not playing against the Wildcats.