Former Ohio State QB's adorable Michigan jab won't do him much good in SEC country

Once an Ohio State football player, always an Ohio State football player. After two handoffs and a sweet kombucha tea deal out of high school, the reclassified quarterbacking prodigy from Southlake Carroll returned to his native Texas to play for his home state's flagship university. Quinn Ewers has been a revelation at quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, helping them make the playoff last year.

However, you're not going to Kansas anymore. You'll be going to places like Ann Arbor, Michigan, in addition to a healthy helping of some of the loudest venues college football could ever hope to provide in the SEC. Ewers may revel in the notion of taking Texas to the defending national champions' place this season, but calling them The Team Up North is not going to fly in SEC country.

I know head coach Steve Sarkisian will have his team ready to play, but the SEC is a different beast.

“Going up to The Big House, it’s gonna be an awesome environment. The place is gonna be rocking, especially all the hype because it’s an early game. They’re coming off a really big win – the national championship. Yeah, The Team Up North.”

Ewers is insanely talented, but he has had a miserable time staying on the field the last two years.

He could be the next Matthew Stafford or he could be the Texas equivalent of brittle Sam Bradford...

Quinn Ewers takes the bait in criticizing Michigan during SEC Media Days

Ewers may be a first-round lock as a quarterback prospect. He may also have played at two of the four or five best programs in the country over the last three years. However, there are no Ohio States in this league, nor are there teams that carry as much gravitas by themselves like Texas used to in the Big 12. There are many big brands, including Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee.

What I am getting at is every week in the SEC is a bloodbath. Unless you have Vanderbilt on your schedule, you are not getting multiple Vanderbilts like you did in the old Big 12. Crushing tomato cans like Baylor of late, Cincinnati last year and Kansas historically is not what SEC football is about. It is about holding on for dear life, as the cacophony of Sandstorm and cowbells make your head ring.

I cannot explain this enough. If Texas tries to enter the SEC thinking it is better than everyone, everyone will make sure that the Longhorns' first year in its new league will be a season from hell. All 15 other teams are going to hit them with the Horns Down as often as possible. It is not even funny. I cannot wait to see Arkansa lose its damn mind over Texas. We didn't know you had it in you, Hogs...

Ultimately, Texas is coming into a hornet's nest of a league where spectacular people like me will make a mountain out of a molehill because why would you not sweat the small stuff when it just means more, dammit, PAWL?! Lincoln Riley was never bout that. Sarkisian absolutely is, but I honestly wonder if Texas is ready for the gauntlet the Horns are going to have to try and navigate this season.

I still think this is a top-four team in the country and Ewers is fantastic, but I know how optics can land.