3. Texas playing fire as they flirt with Ewers
There are rumors out there that Texas – excuse me, people who are in no way related with the Texas program but would be happy to see him in Austin and are willing to pay for it – is prepared to offer Quinn Ewers an NIL package worth $3.8 million. That would be the most Texas thing ever: throwing a huge amount of money at one of many problems, only to run the risk of alienating the locker room and undercutting your coaching staff.If Ewers gets $3.8 million, what does a proven player like DeMarvion Overshown merit? The baseline has already been set for the offensive linemen, and it’s not $3.8 million. What’s Xavier Worthy get? He’s a freshman All-American. When you publicly go out there and throw a ton of money at a player and act like he’s the savior of everything, you run the serious risk of fracturing the locker room. And if that player gets a big ego from all the money and attention, you’ve got a brewing disaster.
And let’s say Ewers gets the big deal and then isn’t that good. What does Steve Sarkisian do?
Can he bench the $3.8 million man? People with skin in the game are going to want a return on their investment and will have very different (and likely skewed) expectations. I’m not sure he’d be able to put the hook out and pull Ewers without 1) Ewers reacting negatively and 2) the boosters losing their minds. This is a risky situation for Texas and there’s a good chance it blows up in their face. And boy, wouldn’t that be a bummer.
