Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers’ strained abdominal injury isn’t as bad as feared, and the Heisman frontrunner is now “week to week,” a UT football source told Orangebloods.

Considering how the Texas coaches sat running back Jaydon Blue (ankle) against UTSA as a precaution, it’s likely that Ewers will sit out this week against Louisiana-Monroe.

This week’s game will be the first since 2008 that Texas has been ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Still, that’s no excuse to risk it. Texas (3-0) opened the week as 45-point favorites over Monroe (2-0).

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian described the details of Ewers’ injury in the aftermath of the 56-7 win over UTSA. Sarkisian sounded like a coach who didn’t sound too worried about Ewers’ long-term health.

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“It was a really odd play,” Sarkisian said. “First of all in that, he dropped back and threw a corner route to (tight end) Gunner Helm, and then everybody watched Gunner, and Gunner catches it and hurdles a guy, and the place is going crazy. And Quinn’s like, limping. I didn’t even know what I was getting ready to call the next play, and (running backs coach Tashard) Choice said on the headset said, ‘I think Quinn might be hurt.’

“So I called a run without an RPO, just a run to see what happening,” the coach continued. “And after the play, he kind of looked at me and pointed, and I said, ‘Take a knee, and then we’ll figure it out.’”

Sarkisian said the plan was for Ewers to be evaluated again Sunday. “My goal and hope is that it’s not long term, that it’s something that just kind of got tweaked, oddly enough, throwing a football, you know? I mean, it was kind of a little bit of a freak free play.”

Sarkisian should have no qualms about sitting Ewers this week. Backup quarterback Arch Manning came into the game against UTSA and accounted for five touchdowns, turning a close game into a rout.

Manning has cemented himself as the Texas quarterback for 2025 and beyond. But this is 2024, and this is still Ewers’ team. If Ewers is healthy, he will play ahead of Manning as Texas charges headlong into its first true national title hunt since 2009.