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Texas football: Quinn Ewers enters 2025 NFL draft

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Texas football: Quinn Ewers enters 2025 NFL draft


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After three years with the Texas football team, quarterback Quinn Ewers is moving on.

On Wednesday, Ewers announced that he is declaring for the 2025 NFL draft. The decision became public in a video posted to his Instagram and X accounts.

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Pro Football Focus currently rates Ewers as the No. 7 quarterback in the 2025 draft class.

The decision by Ewers to leave Texas for the NFL is hardly a surprise. Ewers considered entering the NFL draft after the 2023 season but opted to return to school for another year. Despite a report that he had been offered $6 million to enter the transfer portal and exhaust his eligibility elsewhere, Ewers also recently told ESPN that the did not expect to play college football during the 2025 season.

So all Wednesday’s news did was officially close a chapter for both Ewers and Texas. After skipping his senior year of high school and spending a semester at Ohio State, Ewers announced on Dec. 12, 2021 that he would transfer to Texas. He won the starting job ahead of the 2022 season and remained the Longhorns’ starter through last week’s 28-14 loss to Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10.

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Over 36 starts, Ewers completed just under 65% of his passes while throwing for 9,128 yards and 68 touchdowns. He led Texas to a 27-9 record, the 2023 Big 12 championship and two appearances in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

Among his memorable performances were a four-touchdown outburst against Oklahoma in 2022, a 349-yard, three-touchdown game at Alabama in 2023, a 452-yard, four-touchdown performance in the 2023 Big 12 championship game and a three-touchdown effort at Michigan this past September. Against Arizona State in the quarterfinal round of the 2024 College Football Playoff, Ewers threw for 322 yards and completed a 4th-and-13 pass that kept UT’s season alive.

Ewers, however, never fully lived up to the hype associated with being rated as a perfect prospect in a 2021 recruiting class that also included future first-round picks Caleb Williams, J.J. McCarthy and Drake Maye. Injuries cost Ewers multiple games in each of his seasons at Texas, and fans and media members alike spent much of the past two seasons speculating over what the UT offense would look like with his backup, Arch Manning, under center. Texas is also still searching for its first national championship since 2005.

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Still, Ewers leaves Texas with the third-most touchdown passes and third-most passing yards in school history. Colt McCoy, Vince Young and Bobby Layne, who all have had their numbers retired by Texas, are the only quarterbacks who won more games with the Longhorns.

“I’m super proud of Quinn. He’s taught me a lot, probably unknowingly to him, because what he went through every year dealing with injury, what he goes through where I don’t know if he’d ever live up to the standards of what everybody thinks he’s supposed to be,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said after the Cotton Bowl. “But at the end of the day, all he did was show up every day and work and be a great leader and be a great teammate. And that’s a real credit to him because human nature, in this day and age, is to look at Twitter, to look at Instagram, to look at social media and articles written and fan boards and whatever else. And you can ride that emotional roller coaster of whatever you think public opinion could be, and that could be the opinion of one or a hundred or whatever.

“But this guy never did that. All he did was come to work every day. All he did was be a great teammate. All he did was work on his craft, get himself as healthy as he could when he was injured, and then show up when it was time to show up.”



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Austin, TX

7 Juneteenth celebrations happening in Austin this weekend

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7 Juneteenth celebrations happening in Austin this weekend


Juneteenth celebrations are happening across the city this weekend. The events will mark the 161st anniversary of the day Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay to announce that more than 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were free. The announcement on June 19, 1865, came more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. June 19 — known as Juneteenth — became a federal holiday in 2021.

From historical bike rides to Austin’s annual parade, here are seven events taking place in Austin.

Annual Juneteenth FunRun, June 19

The city of Austin’s African American Cultural and Heritage Facility will host a fun run starting at 8:30 a.m. on Friday at East Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Leona Street, and concluding at Hargrave Street near the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex. Participants will have one hour to complete the course. The route is the same as the parade through the African American Historical Cultural District that will start later that morning. Runners and walkers of all ages and levels can participate.

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Central Texas Juneteenth Parade & Festival, June 19

The annual Juneteenth parade will take place Friday and begin at 10 a.m. at East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Leona Street and will travel down to Chicon Street before turning on Rosewood Avenue. The parade will feature floats, live music and performers.

A Very Juneteenth Comedy Jam, June 19

The Velveeta Room, Austin’s longest-running comedy club, will have shows highlighting Black voices Friday night at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The 18+ event will feature comedians like Freddy Do Less and Roderick McDaniel. Tickets for both shows are around $23.

Sistas Walk And Talk: Juneteenth Edition, June 20

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Texas Sistas Society will host a 3-mile walk and talk Saturday at 515 S. Pleasant Valley Road starting at 7:45 a.m. Texas Sistas Society is an Austin-based community created for Black women and women of color. Attendees are encouraged to wear Juneteenth colors: red, yellow, green or black, and to RSVP ahead of time.

The Carver Kickback: Juneteenth Edition, June 20

The George Washington Carver Museum in Austin is dedicated to creating a “space where the global contributions of all Black people are celebrated.” The museum is hosting a free celebration from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday with barbecue plates, live music, vendors and activities for all ages.

Black Auteur Film Festival, June 20

The Black Auteur Film Festival, a nonprofit dedicated to uplifting Black filmmakers in Texas, is hosting its third annual film festival to showcase short films directed by Black Texans at AFS Cinema on Saturday. One filmmaker will win the $1,000 “Best of Fest” award, and attendees can enter a raffle for a chance to win Austin Film Society memberships and movie tickets. The festival runs from 2 to 5 p.m. Tickets are $14.

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Juneteenth Social Ride, June 21

Black History Bike Ride, an Austin nonprofit teaching people about the city’s Black history through cycling, is hosting its seventh annual Juneteenth ride starting at the Haskell House on Saturday at 10 a.m. Austin-based historian Harrison Eppright will serve as the ride’s guide. Registration is required for all attendees. The event is free, but donations are encouraged.





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Everything you need to know about Austin run clubs

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Everything you need to know about Austin run clubs


AUSTIN (KXAN) — Data analyst Corey Yeung created the ATX Running Guide to help runners find community across Central Texas. What started as a personal project has become one of Austin’s most comprehensive running resources.

Looking for a Run Club? There’s a Map for That

When Corey Yeung moved to Austin three years ago, he had a simple question:
“How many run clubs are actually out there?” The answer wasn’t easy to find. While several websites listed local groups, Yeung felt none offered a complete picture. So, he decided to build one himself. What started as a spreadsheet evolved into ATX Running Guide, a website and social media platform that helps runners discover clubs throughout the Austin area.

“The list would be more useful if it were a map and search tool,” Yeung said. “The Instagram page was simply a way to communicate those free resources to the community.”

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Today, the guide covers running groups from San Marcos to Hutto and serves as a one-stop resource for runners looking to connect. In this episode of KXAN’S Plus Simple Health, Corey Yeung walks us through everything you need to know about the 200-plus running clubs in Austin.





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Austin, TX

Texas Volts begin first home slate Thursday at Dell Diamond

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Texas Volts begin first home slate Thursday at Dell Diamond


AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Volts are off to a rough start in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, but maybe a little home cooking can help them get right.

After playing their first five games on the road, the Volts open play at Dell Diamond in Round Rock at 6 p.m. Thursday against the Utah Talons, kicking off an 8-game homestand.

Texas Volts Logo (Courtesy Athletes Unlimited Softball League)

It’s the first season the Volts will call Dell Diamond home. In the league’s inaugural season last year, the original four teams competed with a touring schedule that included a stop at Dell Diamond. This is the first year that the AUSL, now a 6-team league, will play in home markets.

They have a roster peppered with local stars, including 2-time NCAA national champion middle infielder Leighann Goode from the Texas Longhorns. Aliyah Binford, a New Braunfels native, played collegiately for Ole Miss and former Texas State pitcher Jessica Mullins made an appearance in the Volts’ previous series against the Carolina Blaze.

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Goode said there’s been a bit of a learning curve, but she credits her teammates for helping her adjust to the league.

“This group has brought me in and taught me stuff, taken me under their wings,” she said. “They’ve done an awesome job.”

Legendary Texas pitcher Cat Osterman is the team’s general manager, and the head coach is Texas State’s Ricci Woodard.

“We’re ready to rock and roll at home,” Woodard said. “I’m anxious to see what happens now that we get to play in our own place.”

Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 draft, joined the team last weekend after a brief contract holdout.

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The Volts are 1-4 this season, picking up their lone win over the Oklahoma City Spark on June 10. They’ll face the Talons in a 3-game series, the Chicago Bandits for a pair June 23-24, and finish the homestand with a 3-game set against the expansion Portland Cascade on June 26-28.

Ryan Sanders Baseball, the organization that owns and operates the Round Rock Express, is an operating partner with the Volts and an investor with the AUSL.



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