As Texas Moves to Arch Manning Era, Longhorns Fans Should Be Grateful For Quinn Ewers

No one played a bigger role in rebuilding the Texas Longhorns than three-year starting quarterback Quinn Ewers, and now his days in the Burnt Orange are over

Jan 10, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) runs against Ohio State Buckeyes cornerback Jordan Hancock (7) and safety Caleb Downs (2) during the second quarter of the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-Imagn Images / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

As the Texas Longhorns football lost to Ohio State in the 2025 Goodyear Cotton Bowl, junior quarterback Quinn Ewers likely played his final game in a Texas uniform. After much debate about his future and speculation about him entering the transfer portal, Ewers shared his decision.

When asked by ESPN's Pete Thamel if he planned on playing college football next season, his answer was simple, "Nah, I don't."

This means that the Quinn Ewers days are over in Austin and redshirt freshman Arch Manning will be the next starting quarterback for the University of Texas. Ewers wore the title well, finishing his career as a Longhorn with 8,845 passing yards, 66 passing touchdowns, eight rushing touchdowns, and 23 interceptions, and reached back-to-back conference championship games and College Football Playoff semifinals.

Manning is the future of Texas football.

His family has been adamant that he was waiting his turn and wants to play for head coach Steve Sarkisian, and now he will have his chance. This season, Manning played in three full games, entering one after Ewers was injured and started two games in the aftermath. In 10 games, he threw for 939 yards and nine touchdowns, while also rushing for 100 yards and four touchdowns.

Longhorn fans who were unhappy with Ewers' performance wanted to see more of Manning in just about every game this season, despite a solid performance from Ewers.

Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers (3) turns around to look at the field a last time before walking to the locker room after the Longhorns' 28-14 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff semi-final at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, Jan. 10, 2025. / Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

But Ewers deserves his flowers.

Ewers holds the longest active streak of throwing a touchdown pass of any NCAA quarterback of 26 games and is the first Texas quarterback since Colt McCoy to lead the Longhorns to back-to-back 10-win seasons.

He brought the Texas program to places that many Longhorn QB greats could never propel their teams to achieve.

And that means something.

"You know no one really at the beginning of the season thought we were gonna be here," Ewers said after the loss to his former team. "Our first year in the SEC, we make it to the SEC title game. That didn't go our way either, but again, for us to bounce back the way that we did consistently was really cool to see throughout the entire season. I'm beyond proud of all these guys, I love every single one of them, you know the amount of work that we put in in the offseason, winter conditioning, summer workouts, all of that, we grind together and the love grows together. It's just been a really cool season and I'm so proud to be a Longhorn."

While the loss to Ohio State may sting for Texas fans for a while, the future of the Texas Longhorns football team is as bright as ever. Manning is the third generation of great quarterbacks, with both of his uncles and his grandfather being members of the NFL Hall of Fame.

And that is going to make Austin an exciting place to watch football for some time.

That said, what Ewers did for the Texas program was pretty exciting in its own right, and it should not be forgotten.

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