Texas Longhorns College Football Pregame Quote, 12/30/2023

Q. Quinn, you told us it was a dream come true to bring your team a Big 12 championship. What has it been like for you to bring your team to the college football playoffs?

QUINN EWERS: It’s been unreal to just have the opportunity to play in the playoffs. I know all these guys are fired up. I couldn’t be more proud of the way that we’re approaching this game, just approaching each practice day in and day out, and I know we’re all pretty fired up for January 1st.

Q. What have you seen from your team this week that proves to you that you can win on this stage in this game?

QUINN EWERS: I think just how comfortable everybody is in practice just around everybody. Everyone’s still kind of just talking about the game plan in the hotels and that whole deal. Everyone is pretty focused. It’s cool to see when everybody’s locked in.

Q. AD [Adonai] Mitchell has experience in these kinds of games. Xavier Worthy has the explosive play-making ability. Jordan Whittington has the veteran leadership. What do you need from your receivers in this match-up?

QUINN EWERS: Nothing more than they’ve done all year. Just go out there and play their game. I’m going to try my hardest to get the ball in their hands, and we’ll see what happens after that.

Q. What kind of advantage can you guys find against this veteran defense, specifically in the passing game?

QUINN EWERS: As long as we’ve focused on us and what we’re doing, I think we’re a hard offense to stop when it comes to that. We stay enamored with what we’re doing.

Q. What’s your message to your team?

QUINN EWERS: Just go out there and have fun. It’s a kid’s game. Go back to your Pee Wee days and go have fun.

Q. I’m wanting to write a little bit about y’all’s running back room and how they righted the ship after JB [Jonathon Brooks] went down. From your perspective, how have those guys stepped up — CJ [Baxter], Jaydon [Blue], Keilan [Robinson] — since JB went down?

QUINN EWERS: They’ve definitely stepped up really well, and I’m proud of the way all of those guys come to work each day. And it sucks, JB went down. Especially with the season he was having and just the guy he is, it sucks to see that from a guy like him. But, like you said, I think all three of those guys have done a great job stepping up.

Q. I don’t know how much you interact with Coach [Tashard] Choice. Obviously, he’s not your position coach. What kind of impact do you think he has as a coach for your team and in that room specifically?

QUINN EWERS: I think he has a huge impact. He brings the energy to practice. He’s a high-energy guy, which just gets everyone else rolling.

Q. Having seen the team grow over the past two years, what do you think the team, the offense has grown most since you’ve arrived to where it is right now?

QUINN EWERS: I think everyone just has a better understanding of the entire offense as a whole, especially me. I think when Coach Sark [Steve Sarkisian] calls a play, I think people know the why now. Instead of just going out there and trying to execute a play. I think we all know why he’s going to call it.

Q. Tell me more about that, the why. Does he explain the why pregame or is it in a game you hear a play called and you’re like, oh, I think this is setting up something that we’ll see in the third and the fourth quarter?

QUINN EWERS: He explains it. We roll through game plans. He leads the game plan for us, the running backs, the receivers; so we get good insight on why he thinks he should call certain plays.

Q. The quarterback room has changed over the past few weeks with Maalik [Murphy] leaving. How has that opened the door for Arch [Manning] to get more practice reps or changed how you guys do things in meetings or on the practice field?

QUINN EWERS: It definitely changes up whenever you’ve got a guy like Malik who is in the portal. I’m just excited to see what he does, first off. But yeah, it opens up things for Arch for sure. He’s getting a lot more reps than he was during the Entire season.

Q. A lot of college football players are like I don’t get enough respect, that type of thing. I’ve never heard you say that. What does fuel you if it’s not that?

QUINN EWERS: We’re all human beings; so it doesn’t bother me. Outside opinions don’t really affect me. Whenever you focus too much on the bad, you’ll get too down. When you focus too much on the good, you’ll become complacent about certain things. I don’t focus on all that stuff.

Q. You’re probably not in the mood to reflect on a career, but when you think about the tougher times at Texas that you had earlier, what would you say is the biggest difference? Where have you come the farthest, whether it’s mentally or whatever?

QUINN EWERS: I think I just understand the offense a whole lot better, and I’m a whole lot better at just taking what the defense gives me instead of forcing throws.