West Virginia preparing for both Texas QBs

West Virginia doesn’t know which Texas quarterback will start Saturday. So, they’re preparing for both.

Freshman Quinn Ewers sustained a sprained SC joint in his shoulder against Alabama, which elevated Hudson Card into the starting role for the remainder of that contest and the past two games. Since assuming the starting role, Card has completed 49-75 passes for 596 yards and a 3 touchdowns.

The Longhorns ended up losing to the Crimson Tide 20-19 and have split the two contests since then with the most recent game a 37-34 loss on the road to Texas Tech.

The initial timeline had Ewers out 4-6 weeks, but he has reportedly been ahead of that timeline and there was the possibility that he could have returned against the Red Raiders. That obviously didn’t happen but with another week to heal, the door is certainly opened for it to occur this weekend.

“Whoever plays they’re going to play at a high level at quarterback,” head coach Neal Brown said.

Brown has watched Card since he was at Lake Travis High School and understands his pedigree, while Ewers was one of the most highly decorated signal callers in his recruiting class a few years ago.

“(Card) could have gone anywhere in the country. I think he’s a really good player, he played well last year when he was healthy as well. If Ewers plays, I thought he played extremely well early on against Alabama, obviously highly regarded,” Brown said. “So, whoever lines up at quarterback they’re going to be good. That’s how I want to answer because that’s how I believe.”

At large it speaks to the talent in that Longhorns quarterback room that each starter brings high level talent to the position, but regardless of who gets the nod it won’t change the overall offense too much.

Steve Sarkisian has called the games similar with each option in the game which means that it isn’t going to requite a ton of adjustments depending on which one is under center.

“Probably more similarities between those two than differences,” Brown said. “It’s not like you have a real runner and a real thrower and there’s a stark difference. How we prepare is not going to be much different depending on who plays.”

The Mountaineers are readying themselves for each quarterback as outside linebacker Jared Bartlett, along with the rest of the defense, has been watching film on each. It’s a necessity with the question marks ahead of the game in order to understand all of the situations and tendencies with each.

“When you’re prepared to play you have to study both quarterbacks,” he said.

As part of that, Bartlett has been identifying how they step up based on the play, their check downs, how they handle pressure, how they handle getting hit and more.

But in general, it will come down to executing on the defensive end.

“It doesn’t matter our game plan is not going to change,” Bartlett said.

While the quarterback situation is still unsettled, the potency of the Texas offense with Sarkisian calling the plays is certainly not. The Longhorns possess excellent speed and skill across the various positions on offense and that is going to be a major challenge for a defense coming off a strong performance.

Texas has one of the best running backs in the nation in Bijan Robinson, along with some very talented pass catchers which should create issues for the Mountaineers.

“They’re explosive, fast and they have play making ability at every position,” coordinator Jordan Lesley said.

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