Expect Steve Sarkisian to name Texas football’s QB1 early this fall

One of the main looming topics that media and fans wanted to hear about from second-year Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian at Big 12 Media Days earlier this week was any updates that he had on the quarterback competition. Sark did provide some updates on the status of both redshirt freshman Quinn Ewers and junior Hudson Card, but not much insight into any updates on the quarterback competition itself.

This was to be expected, though.

A factor in this quarterback competition that has come to our attention is the timeframe by which Sark will make his decision during fall camp. It seems like it would be best for Sark and the Longhorns to have a starting quarterback named pretty early in fall camp for a few reasons.

When you analyze the different possible timelines for Sark to name a starter this fall, it seems like most advantages arise when he announces early on compared to right before the opener.

A potential mistake last fall for Sark in terms of the quarterback competition that was looming at that time between Card and Casey Thompson was naming the starter too late in fall camp. Card was named the starter less than one week before Texas’ regular season opener against Louisiana.

In the opener, Card did look crisp as led Texas to a win over a top-25 ranked team in Louisiana at home. But Card didn’t look quite as confident when Texas hit the road to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in Week 2 of the regular season. Card wound up getting yanked in that game for Thompson.

Texas football HC Steve Sarkisian must be decisive early this fall in naming either Hudson Card or Quinn Ewers as the starter

You have to wonder if Sark and his staff were better prepared for that game, and announced the starting quarterback earlier in fall camp if the result against Arkansas would’ve been so disastrous. But that is all hearsay now.

Sark can learn from that, though, and name a starter earlier in fall camp to let that quarterback get more comfortable in the system and with all the new weapons in this offense before facing a difficult non-conference schedule. Allowing either Ewers or Card to get more confidence built and a better grip on the playbook by naming one of them the starter earlier in fall camp makes a lot of sense.

Texas will need the starting quarterback to have a good rhythm and some real confidence built before facing a tough stretch in the non-conference schedule in the second and third weeks of the 2022 campaign. Sark and the Longhorns face the defending National Champion runner-up Alabama Crimson Tide and the reigning Conference-USA Champion UTSA Roadrunners in back-to-back weeks to round out the non-conference schedule in mid-September.

There is no doubt in my mind that Sark needs to be more decisive in the direction he takes in the quarterback competition this fall. Whether that means he goes the expected route of naming Ewers the starting quarterback or instilling the utmost confidence in Card right away, Sark needs to know the path that lies ahead.

The lack of consistent confidence in Card and Thompson at different points last fall was a saga for Sark that can’t be repeated this fall with the former of those two quarterbacks and Ewers. There is too much on the line now for Sark to repeat that mistake.

My prediction for the quarterback competition this fall would be for Sark to have a starter announced a couple of weeks into the start of fall camp at the latest. With fall camp set to begin on Aug. 4, that would peg the timeline for a starting quarterback to be named by Aug. 18 at the latest in this hypothetical scenario.

I would also think that Ewers is still the favorite to be named the starting quarterback over Card. But that school of thought hasn’t changed much since the spring.

Texas finished up last season with a record of 5-7 (3-6 Big 12), missing out on bowl season for the first time since 2016. Sark and the Longhorns will open up the 2022 regular season at home on Sep. 3 against Louisiana-Monroe.