Former Texas quarterback warns against starting Quinn Ewers

Former Texas quarterback Todd Dodge is urging Longhorns fans to be wary of starting Quinn Ewers right away as a freshman.

There seems a very good chance that Texas football will be helmed by freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers in 2022.

The Ohio State transfer has won the job yet, but he’s the favorite to start. For many Longhorns fans, that’s the ideal scenario. However, former quarterback Todd Dodge isn’t so convinced.

Dodge appeared on The Flagship Podcast and spoke about his concerns about starting such a young quarterback.

“I believe that universities all across America are getting really fired up about true freshman. They’ve got to calm down a bit,” Dodge said. “It is not in the best interest of your football team if you are starting a true freshman. I don’t care how good he is.”

Dodge wants to remind Texas fans that Ewers is essentially a true freshman. He may have entered college last year but he didn’t play and that season just took the place of his senior year of high school.

He acknowledged the likes of Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa and Caleb Williams but pointed out the freshman moments that young passers inevitably have.

Todd Dodge: Texas football starting Quinn Ewers comes with some downside

The rush to play young quarterbacks has had a negative impact on Texas directly, Dodge believes.

For Dodge, the Longhorns’ stretch of struggles since 2009 can be linked to inconsistent and often inexperienced quarterback play. David Ash played as a freshman. So did Jerrod Heard, Shane Buchele and Sam Ehlinger.

“That position and the speed of the game — when you go from freshman football to junior varsity football, and junior varsity football to varsity — the speed of the game is unbelievable,” Dodge said.

Dodge knows that quarterbacks are better prepared to play coming right out of high school that they were in his day when it was standard practice for a quarterback to wait until their junior year or longer to get a chance to start.

“The thing about it is, unfortunately, for the University of Texas and for other schools across the country is they have to because people are transferring,” Dodge said. “People are not waiting to start as a sophomore or start as a junior.”

So basically, Texas is in a bind. They can’t wait to start Ewers because quarterbacks don’t want to wait to play. Instead, fans have to adjust their expectations to a reasonable degree when a quarterback like Ewers takes the field. There will be growing pains.

“[Coach Sarkisian] will figure it all out, but I guarantee he wishes he had somebody a bit more experienced,” Dodge said.

There’s no doubt about that, but Sarkisian is probably just grateful to have the quarterback in his program at all.

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