Washington Coach Kalen DeBoer Talks ‘Continual Growth’ of Quinn Ewers, Longhorns Offense

The Texas Longhorns and Washington Huskies have both improved since last season’s meeting at the Alamo Bowl.

With a long one-month waiting period between conference championships and the College Football Playoff, there’s been tons of extra time to talk about the Texas Longhorns and Washington Huskies. 

Both fan bases have made it clear that their respective teams are much different from last season’s matchup in the Alamo Bowl, and it’s a conversation that has been had back and forth on social media in the multiple weeks of waiting. 

Washington coach Kalen DeBoer “joined” in on this when speaking to the media ahead of Monday’s matchup at the Sugar Bowl, as he talked about the growth he’s seen from Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers since last season. 

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“I think the thing you see is that he's had continual growth from a year ago,” DeBoer said. “That's just Quinn but also just the rest of the team, along with his skill group are in sync. You can see they're executing at an extremely level. I think his command of the offense has continued to improve from a year ago.”

In the Alamo Bowl last season, Ewers went 31 of 47 passing for 369 yards and a touchdown. It ended up being one of his better games of the year, as his passing yardage total was a season-high mark. 

If Ewers can improve off of that performance, the Longhorns offense will be in good shape. 

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DeBoer knows things will be different this time around. 

“We’re expecting a much-different football team than we saw, which was a very good football team, even a year ago,” he said. “And so he's protected. He understands, I think, just from a football sense it's another year into your career. And so been very impressed. He can deliver the ball, put it wherever he wants. And we'll have -- we know we'll have our hands full trying to slow Quinn and the offense down.

The Longhorns and Huskies kickoff from New Orleans on Monday at 7:45 p.m. CT.