5 takeaways from Quinn Ewers' winning recipe vs. Michigan

Ewers put on a show in Ann Arbor, but does it hold up when putting it under a microscope?

Sep 7, 2024; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers (3) scrambles in the first half against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The Texas Football program, led by quarterback Quinn Ewers, put the beatdown on the defending national champion-winning Michigan Wolverines over the weekend. As a result, many are buzzing about the 2025 NFL Draft stock of the former highest recruit ever coming out of high school.

In this less-than-competitive game between two top-10 teams, Ewers went 24-of-36 passing for 246 yards and three touchdowns on the talented Michigan defense. Through two games now, Ewers sits with 506 yards passing and six touchdowns with one interception that came against Colorado State.

In an otherwise lackluster quarterback class, Ewers has the chance to be the one to rise to the top. This performance against Michigan will absolutely be one for his resume. However, there are still reasons to open up the hood and put his tape under a microscope, so let's do that. Here are the five biggest takeaways from Ewers' performance against Michigan:

1. Quinn Ewers is playing on time and on schedule

Let's start with the glowingly positive from this outing against the Wolverines: Ewers is playing in complete control of head coach Steve Sarkisian's offense. This is a much different story than the previous two seasons. The days of looking for a college quarterback who runs a pro style offense are over. The majority of these guys are running spread looks, air raid, and heavy RPO schemes and will need time to adjust to an NFL playbook.

Perhaps the first week of NFL action were all three starting rookie quarterbacks struggled is a good indication of this.

Instead, it's more crucial to look at how commanding the quarterback is in the offense they are asked to run. And Ewers was in command on Saturday in Ann Arbor. He was decisive, on time, on schedule, and confident in where he was going with the football. He played smart football, throwing the ball away when he needed to as well. This aspect of his game against Michigan gets a glowing gold star.

Even the time Ewers was asked to work off-schedule, he threw a touchdown dart that was eventually called back outside of structure, showing some creative capability not seen in year's past. There are, however, still reasons to have some concerns about how Ewers' game will progress the rest of the season as he gets ready to take the leap to the NFL.

2. That Texas offense still asks very little of him

For the most part, Ewers is operating in college football's friendliest offense for a quarterback. Texas Football head coach Steve Sarkisian gives Ewers so much to work with presnap in motion, alignments and sets, and more to make it as clear as possible what looks the defense is serving on the other side of the field. And it shows up when turning on the tape.

Yes, Ewers is playing on time and on schedule, and that is first and foremost what you want to see from a quarterback leading a top-three program in the country. However, 10 of this throws against Michigan were at or behind the line of scrimmage, and another 10 were within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Only seven of his chartable throws traveled further than 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage with 20 coming from five yards or below from it.

This is eerily similar to what Bo Nix did at Oregon last year. He drew rave reviews from some draftniks for his accuracy and ability to work on schedule. However, he was throwing an insane amount of passes within five yards of the line of scrimmage. And when he was asked to stretch the field, the results were not overly positive.

It's worth noting that the Longhorns didn't have to do much through the air in this one. They dominated the trenches in this one and could have run the ball 50 times and still won by three scores if they wanted to. But the results when Ewers did take his shots tell a story as well.

3. Nearly all of his misses came along the sideline

As mentioned above, Ewers worked mostly with the short game, taking what he was given based off of pre-snap looks and the flurry of motion that Sarkisian loves to use. However, when forced to stretch the field along the boundary, Ewers struggled to thread the ball on the money. In fact, he missed two pretty easy and open throws on corner routes after reading out a hi-lo.

Ewers is hitting the gimmes consistently, and even this is a sign of growth from the 2025 NFL Draft hopeful. You can see that in his passing chart below (done by yours truly). He's even hitting the deep ball far more consistently than he did a year ago. He had one over throw in this one, but hit on two-of-three.

The boundary throw, however, is an NFL throw. And one Ewers needs to start hitting more consistently. He isn't throwing over the middle, another area of the field that he will have to start attacking to prove to NFL teams that he can. But if he's not going to at the college level, then he needs to hit his intermediate throws along the boundary.

4. Ewers still won't throw with a solid base beneath him

Again, drawing a similarity to Nix from a year ago, there are just too many times where Ewers willingly opts to throw off-platform and without setting his feet. He gets a bit of a pass because 90 percent of quarterbacks coming from the college level these days have bad lower-half mechanics, but particularly in this regard, we need to see Ewers reset his feet far more than he opts to do right now.

Nix came into the NFL still constantly throwing on the run and without a base. And while he got away with it in the preseason when defenses were not showing anything of worth, his rookie debut was a disaster from a decision-making standpoint, but also from an accuracy standpoint. His lack of a base was the main culprit in this regard.

When Ewers doesn't get the post-snap look that he thinks he is getting based on what he observes pre-snap, his lower half can get sped up and flustered. This is especially the case when he is forced to move his eyes backside. This was another glaring issue with Bo Nix at Oregon, and one that was exploited in his rookie debut.

This is potentially the biggest red flag in Ewers' game right now.

5. This type of play may be good enough in this 2025 NFL Draft class

Even after beating Alabama a year ago, a similar resume builder to this win against the Wolverines, the consistency was not there for Ewers in 2023. So that is where we stand this year. After this dominant win over the defending national champions, can Ewers finally take that leap and become an every day efficient and consistent quarterback?

If he can, that will be enough. Even without a consistent lower half on tape. Even with some accuracy issues along the boundary, this quarterback class in the 2025 NFL Draft (the offensive class in general) is underwhelming enough to catch the eyes of the reactionary drafters in the league.

While I entered the season a little skittish on Ewers, and still am until we get a larger sample size, this was a step in the right direction for the Texas Football senior. He has a gauntlet of a schedule to work through in the SEC this season, including a matchup with Georgia on October 19, to prove he can be the consistent distributor that NFL teams are looking for.

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