Texas Football: 4 overreactions from Longhorns’ bumpy win over Rice

Quinn Ewers’ escapability will make him a dark horse Heisman contender

I said this was an overreaction list, so here you go.

It is a tough sell to Texas fans to say that redshirt sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers will be a true Heisman contender when it’s all said and done this season after his Week 1 performance against Rice. Ewers definitely had his issues throwing the deep ball and with occasional miscommunication between him and the receivers.

Ewers was 0-for-6 on the half-dozen attempts he had throwing the deep ball in this game. That brings him to 1-for-14 on deep ball passing attempts since the bowl game against the Washington Huskies to round out last season.

But the deep ball issues are not the topic of this part of the list.

Ewers’ newfound escapability on designed passing plays was one of the more pleasant surprises for the Texas offense in the opener this weekend. Ewers had 32 rushing yards on eight attempts in this game, good for one rushing score. He also had two runs of at least 10 yards, which matches his total from last season.

Ewers was more decisive about when to tuck the ball and run to pick up key yardage and convert on second and third downs. He also had a nice option run for a score where he held the ball and ran into the end zone untouched.

The running element of Ewers’ game wasn’t there last season. If he continues to show this type of decisiveness and athleticism when evading the pocket and running the football, Ewers will be a more dangerous quarterback for opposing defenses to prepare for this fall.