Assessing 3 struggling Texas football offensive players this season
Quinn Ewers, QB
Talking about Worthy on the last part of the list serves as a seamless transition to the discussion regarding Ewers’ struggles in the last few games. Ewers isn’t showing the same confidence that he did early in the season, and in the dominant win over the Oklahoma Sooners on Oct. 8.
We’re seeing Ewers getting rattled in the pocket more often, and he’s not going through all his progressions when there are open receivers available.
A stat that is pretty indicative to me that Ewers is rushing his throws is that he has the second-lowest completion percentage of Big 12 quarterbacks in conference play on passing plays where he gets the ball off in less than 2.5 seconds. And on 73 dropbacks in Big 12 play this season where Ewers got the ball off in less than 2.5 seconds, only two saw him come under pressure.
He’s not getting anyone in his face from the opposing defense on these plays, but he’s still not getting the ball where it needs to go.
If Ewers can slow down and get in a better rhythm early in games, then we should see fewer mistakes and fewer plays where he’s not going through all his progressions in the pocket.
Moreover, so many of the issues that Ewers has faced in the last few games can be traced back to the catchable balls that his receivers aren’t coming up with. I personally counted at least seven or eight catchable balls that were either dropped or that the receivers just couldn’t come up with for one reason or another against TCU.
It’s also worth noting that in the last five weeks, Ewers’ receivers had a drop percentage in the double digits. And considering how some of these drops are coming on key third downs and on the plus side of the field (i.e. Worthy in the first quarter and Jahleel Billingsley on a 2nd and 10 around midfield that was inexcusable).
That’s not a recipe for success when Ewers is already lacking confidence and rhythm at times in the last few games.
The Texas receivers need to do their part to help Ewers and this offense.
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If Ewers can get more help from his wideouts and stay a little bit more patient and composed in the pocket, then the rest should fall into place for him to finish out the season on a high note. Sark also needs to get him more favorable game plans where Texas isn’t so reliant on the deep ball and the counter and inside zone run game.