Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers has been one of the most impressive signal-callers of the 2023 season, quickly rising up the draft boards for the overall performance he’s put up to this point. Ewers continues to stay relevant in a crowded quarterback class for the 2024 NFL draft.
But he’ll be away from the action for a while, sidelined with a Grade 2 AC joint sprain, as was announced Sunday by ESPN.
It appeared that Ewers sustained the injury during the contest against the Houston Cougars on a short scrambling attempt when he lowered his shoulder against Houston defender David Ugwoegbu instead of sliding.
Ewers stayed in the game for the rest of the drive, which ended in a string of incompletions, before heading to the medical tent and eventually to the locker room.
Sources: Texas QB Quinn Ewers has a grade 2 AC joint sprain in his right (throwing) shoulder and is expected to miss some time, an MRI revealed on Sunday. The injury is not season ending, as @anwarrichardson reported earlier. A more finite timetable should emerge this week.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 23, 2023
He rejoined the team late in the fourth quarter on the sideline with his arm in a sling. He finished out the game going 23-of-39 passing for 211 yards with two touchdowns.
Backup Maalik Murphy in Ewers’ place, helping Texas to cross the bridge to victory as he put together a scoring drive late in the third quarter to stave off what would have been a huge upset by the Cougars.
“He’s got a hurt shoulder,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters after the game. “We’ll know more tomorrow on kind of the extent of it. He tried to play through it, but we didn’t feel comfortable enough with his ability to continue to play and that’s when Maalik went in the game.”
There is no exact timetable for Ewers’ return that has been disclosed publicly, though the estimated recovery time for this type of injury is typically, though not always, between two and four weeks.
That would align with the expectation that he will not miss the entire back half of the season.