Quinn Ewers and Hudson Card splitting first-team practice reps

All Texas football fans want to know this week who the starting quarterback will be for head coach Steve Sarkisian and this squad when they take on the West Virginia Mountaineers at home this weekend. With redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers returning to practice last week, it looks like he could return to face West Virginia. That would be Ewers’ first live-game action since he suffered a clavicle sprain on his non-throwing shoulder on Sep. 10 against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

While Ewers was out, junior quarterback Hudson Card started the last two games. Texas registered a record of 1-1 with Card as the full-time starter in place of the injured Ewers.

This begs the question, though, will Ewers be healthy enough to get the start against the Mountaineers this weekend, or will it be Card as QB1 for the third straight week?

There are some encouraging signs that Ewers could make his return against West Virginia. The fact that Ewers was able to return to practice more than one week ago is a good sign that his recovery timeline progressed faster than originally anticipated. He also was able to travel with the team to Lubbock last weekend and dressed out for the matchup against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Ewers is also apparently taking some of the first-team reps at quarterback in practice so far this week.

According to a report from Chip Brown of Horns247 on Sep. 28 (paid content), Texas is splitting the first-team quarterback reps in practice so far this week between Card and Ewers.

Texas football splitting first-team QB reps in practice this week between Quinn Ewers and Hudson Card

While this news doesn’t guarantee that Ewers will play against West Virginia this weekend, it is a positive progression in his recovery. And it at least opens the door to the possibility of him taking some live-game reps against West Virginia.

Texas could definitely use the jolt on offense that this group would get from Ewers returning to action. This Texas offense fell flat in the second half in the tough upset loss in overtime at the hands of Texas Tech on Sep. 24.

I’m not going to place all the blame on the offense falling flat in the second half on Card.

But the fact of the matter is that Sark seems to trust Ewers way more than Card to be able to open up this offense and really spread the field.

Texas is sporting a record of 2-2 (0-1 Big 12) after the three-point overtime loss on the road in the Big 12 opener last weekend against Texas Tech. Sark and the Longhorns will face West Virginia at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Oct. 1, with kickoff time set for 6:30 p.m. CT.