Texas starting quarterback Quinn Ewers is questionable for the Longhorns’ game this weekend against Louisiana-Monroe, coach Steve Sarkisian said on Monday.

Ewers, who suffered a strained oblique in the second quarter of the Longhorns’ 56-7 win over UTSA, left Saturday’s game early in the second quarter and didn’t return. Redshirt freshman Arch Manning relieved Ewers with four touchdown passes and a touchdown run and would make his first career start on Saturday if Ewers can’t go.

Ewers had been playing some of the best football of his career before the injury. He has completed a career-high 73.4 percent of his passes this season, threw for 691 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions and averaged 8.7 yards per attempt in eight-plus quarters of action. Entering last weekend, Ewers was the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, per BetMGM.

Sarkisian said the injury was non-contact and Ewers felt pain as he threw a corner route for a 49-yard completion to Gunnar Helm. He tried to continue to play but had to come out of the game after the next snap.

“On the release, he just feels it, you know?” Sarkisian said of the play on which Ewers was injured. “I think what he thought was it was just going to kind of go away, so he stayed in for one more play and then realized, ‘I probably need to get this looked at, this doesn’t feel right.’”

If Ewers is unable to go, it will be the third consecutive season that he has missed a game with an injury. He missed three games in 2022 with a clavicle injury and missed two games last year with an AC joint sprain.

Sarkisian said they’ll monitor Ewers day-to-day and see how he feels. But based on how the quarterback handled his past two injuries, he’s confident that Ewers will effectively use any downtime he has and be ready once he’s cleared to return.

“He’s always staying dialed in,” Sarkisian said. “He’s also diligent with his recovery, and that’s why when he comes back, he comes back and performs at a high level.”

Regarding Manning’s performance on Saturday (he finished 9 of 12 passing for 223 yards), Sarkisian said the young quarterback looked “poised and composed.” Sarkisian said Manning made good decisions and was getting the ball to the right receivers when making his reads.

“There were some learning curves in there, a couple things to learn from, but at the end of the day, I thought he played at a high level,” Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian said they’ll adjust how many practice reps Manning gets with the first team as they monitor Ewers’ status. True freshman Trey Owens, the Longhorns’ third-string quarterback who made his career debut against UTSA, will also see increased work this week. Owens would serve as the backup to Manning if Ewers is unable to go.

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(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)

Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark may owe her teammates a nice gift or dinner after they appeared to prevent her from getting a crucial technical foul on Sunday against the Dallas Wings.

A video posted on social media showed Clark walking back up the floor after a turnover. She looked up at the replay and then immediately started to mouth off to the referee. 

Kelsey Mitchell put her arm out to prevent Clark from heading over to the ref while Aliyah Boston had to pull Clark away and yell, “No,” in her face to keep her from getting the technical foul.

Another technical foul would have been Clark’s seventh of the season. It would have resulted in an automatic suspension and kept her out of the team’s final game of the regular season against the Washington Mystics.

“Well, I didn’t think they were going to give me a technical at any point tonight. I would have been really sad for people in Washington D.C.,” Clark said, via the Indy Star. “I didn’t want to do that. I tried my best, but my teammates do a really good job of that.”

CAITLIN CLARK TAKES SWINGS IN BATTING CAGE AT MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAME: ‘DINGER!’

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark reaches for the ball during a game against the Dallas Wings at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Grace Hollars/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

Phoenix Mercury players Diana Taurasi and Natasha Cloud and the Wings’ Teaira McCowan are the only players to have seven technical fouls this season. If Clark gets her seventh technical foul, she won’t be suspended for the eventual postseason matchup – whoever the Fever play.

Fever head coach Christie Sides credited “good team chemistry stuff” with how Boston and Mitchell prevented Clark from getting the technical foul.

Dallas Wings guard Jacy Sheldon defends Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark in Indianapolis, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Clark set a career high with 35 points in Indiana’s win.

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With more than 70 players in his football program, Dorsey coach Stafon Johnson said things are looking up as he tries to get the Dons headed in the right direction. The team is 2-1 this season and making progress.

One of the top players is Johnson’s son, Deuce, a sophomore receiver/defensive back who has scored five touchdowns. Quarterback Brandon Tolson completed 12 of 16 passes for 235 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Compton.

Johnson, a former star running back for USC, remembers when he first took over as coach, there were just a few players who showed up for a meeting in 2021 during the height of the pandemic.

“I had a kicker, quarterback, two linemen,” he remembered.

Now the Dons have enough players to field a JV team this season. “I’m running out of helmets,” he said. “That’s a good thing.”

One of the top players for the Dons is 6-foot-6, 350-pound defensive lineman Mike McDonald.

Dorsey is also getting a new football field that could be finished by next year.

The Dons play host to Granada Hills on Friday night at Rancho Cienega Recreation Center. They still have big games on the schedule, hosting Crenshaw on Oct. 11 and hosting King/Drew on Oct. 25 in a game that will probably decide the Coliseum League title.

“I’m very excited,” Johnson said.