Texas football’s Hudson Card stock rising fast in QB battle

What all Texas football fans will be watching this weekend is the looming quarterback battle between redshirt junior Quinn Ewers and junior Hudson Card. Second-year Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian looks like he will soon be unraveling a quarterback decision will the regular season opener roughly two weeks away now.

And the hype right now surrounding the quarterback competition is that Sark already has his mind made up following the Thursday press conference this week. Sark did mention that he essentially has a pretty good idea of who the starting quarterback will be.

This led many to speculate on the matter of who had actually won the starting job in Sark’s mind. And that’s when the Hudson chatter started to run rampant on social media.

But is this just unfounded chatter and speculation, or is there reason to believe that Card does in fact hold the edge over Ewers in this looming quarterback battle in fall camp?

At this point of the offseason, it does make sense that if Ewers were to be named the starting quarterback, it would’ve happened by now. I’d have to imagine that Sark was planning on giving Ewers all the tools necessary to take hold of the starting job heading into the regular season opener.

That certainly appears to be the sentiment from everything we’ve heard this offseason since Ewers arrived on campus ahead of spring ball.

We’ve also continually heard that Card has a better command of the offense and looks more in control while taking the first-team reps compared to Ewers. It’s also worth noting that Card took the first-team reps during the open practice at DKR back on Aug. 16. That could also be a telling sign of how the quarterback battle is stacking up ahead of the opener on Sep. 3.

A report from Chip Brown of Horns247 on Aug. 18 also painted the picture that Card would be named the starting quarterback if the regular season opener was this weekend. But that Horns247 report also gave the indication that Ewers is still within striking distance of getting first-team reps by the time Big 12 play begins.

I would still believe that is the case that Ewers will remain within striking distance of winning the starting job. That is if he’s not named the starting quarterback coming out of the second fall scrimmage this weekend.

Another one of the telling signs of where the quarterback competition lies right now came via a report from Geoff Ketchum of Orangebloods (paid content) on the night of Aug. 18. This Orangeblood report implied that Card had the edge over Ewers after Sark’s press conference showing he has a good idea of who the starter will be.

JD PicKell of On3 also discussed the rising stock of Card and the potential for him to start this season in a breakdown of this situation late this week. All of these indicators point to the pretty obvious takeaway that Card at least has an edge on Ewers at this stage of fall camp.

Furthermore, there are other signs that indicate what the bigger picture is for Sark here and that could give some insight into the various struggles for Ewers this offseason. First and foremost, Sark mentioned at Big 12 Media Days that he wanted to have a starting quarterback named earlier in fall camp this year compared to last offseason.

Indicators now pointing to Hudson Card holding edge over Quinn Ewers in Texas football QB battle

Last offseason, Card was named the starting quarterback over Casey Thompson a little more than one week before the regular season opener, which took place on Sep. 4 against Louisiana.

Depending on when Sark announces the starting quarterback to ultimately decide this battle between Card and Ewers, the timeline actually won’t look that much different this offseason than it did last. That would indicate that Sark has given Ewers multiple chances to effectively take the reigns of this offense ahead of the opener.

It will be interesting to see what takes place in the second fall scrimmage on Aug. 20. I would imagine that if Ewers has his best showing of camp to date in this second fall scrimmage, after essentially looking just as good as Card in the open practice earlier this week, that he would earn himself more reps early on in the regular season.

It’s hard to ignore all the signs right now pointing to Card having the edge over Ewers in this quarterback battle in the latter stages of camp.

I do want to say that I don’t believe this battle is over quite yet. In fact, it looks like the battle could carry well into the non-conference slate. Don’t forget that it was a difficult SEC opponent last season that caused Card to get benched in place of Thompson.

Sark and the Longhorns have the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide looming large in Week 2. That could ultimately be the deciding factor for the quarterback battle ahead of the Big 12 slate.

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. Card and the Longhorns are set to open up the 2022 regular season at home on Sep. 3 against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks, with kickoff time set for 7 p.m. CT.