Quinn Ewers Questionable for Texas vs. Mississippi State Due to Oblique Injury

As No. 1 Texas gears up to make its SEC debut on Saturday against Mississippi State, there's a chance it could be without its starting quarterback.

Per ESPN's Dave Wilson, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday that Quinn Ewers remains questionable as he continues to recover from the oblique strain that kept him out of the team's game against UL Monroe this past Saturday.

Sarkisian said Ewers will be evaluated during the week to determine if he's able to make his return.

"He's got to do enough to show me he can play," Sarkisian said. "Can he execute the game plan? I kind of need to see how he responds from today's work, and then what it looks like on a Tuesday, then a Wednesday, which are pretty heavy days for him, and then how he rebounds on Thursday. It's going to be kind of a work in progress. But today was a good start."

In Ewers' absence, redshirt freshman backup Arch Manning made his first career start and helped lead the Longhorns to a 51-3 victory. Manning threw for 258 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions on 15-of-29 passing. One of his picks occurred on Texas' first possession, but Sarkisian said he was encouraged by how the youngster bounced back from his early mistake.

"I've seen a lot of young quarterbacks have a rough start, and then that rough start turns into a rough game," Sarkisian said about the turnovers. "It was a little bit of a rough start for him, but I thought he rebounded and did some nice things for us."

Following this week's game against Mississippi State, Texas will have a bye week before returning to action with marquee matchups against No. 21 Oklahoma in Dallas and No. 2 Georgia in Austin. Perhaps the Longhorns would benefit from giving Ewers an extra two weeks of rest before bringing him back for the high-profile games.