Alabama Football: Was Steve Sarkisian bullied into a QB decision?

On Friday it became known the starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns will be redshirt freshman, Quinn Ewers. Some Texas fans are thinking former Alabama Football OC, Steve Sarkisian did not make the decision. Meaning that instead of Sark, powerful Longhorns’ boosters made it for him.

Denials from in and around the Texas program will spiral for days – maybe even longer. If Sark was not ready to announce his starting QB choice and a decision was forced on him, repercussions could hamper the entire 2022 Texas Longhorns season. Potentially, residual doubt over who is in charge of Texas football could be so detrimental, Sarkisian will have little or no chance of succeeding in Austin.

How the decision was announced fueled skepticism. Not many hours before the announcement, Steve Sarkisian was reported saying Texas still had a QB competition. With a final preseason scrimmage on Saturday, it was expected no decision would be made before Sunday or Monday. In addition, the surprise announcement was made not by Sarkisian, but by Texas SID, John Bianco.

Brain Davis of the Austin-American Statesman was stunned.

"How this came down today was odd. Texas brought three players to interviews. Then, just out of the blue, Texas SID John Bianco said he had a message from Sark. Quinn Ewers is the starter. You could’ve hear a pin drop. Wow."

Unsurprisingly, there have been two camps of Texas fans about who should be the starting QB. It appears the larger camp was in favor of Ewers. The other camp, not yet sold on the unproven transfer, preferred Hudson Card. Fuel for the smaller group came from Sarkisian saying more good things about Card than Ewers during fall camp.

Both QB camps seem to share one opinion. Neither group gives either quarterback much chance against the Alabama football defense.

Only a few hours before the surprise announcement, the Austin American-Statesman was saying,

"I was one of the 2,000 fans at DKR (for an open practice) and I came away thinking an Exorcist marathon would be more comforting than the thought of one of these quarterbacks being thrown to the Alabama wolves in three weeks.Frankly, Card and Ewers — in the handful of times I have witnessed them throw — have been no better than ‘B’ actors in a 3 a.m. Lifetime movie"

An unproven QB and the Alabama Football defense

Several days ago, I suggested some things  Sark should and should not do. One was if Sarkisian believes Ewers is the best option at QB this season, he should not throw him to the Crimson Tide wolves. Damaging his confidence early might slow his development and lead to more Texas losses.

The multiple use of ‘wolves’ to describe the Alabama football defense is at the same time, trite and relevant. It is going to get ugly in Austin.