Q. Quinn, when Isaiah Bond is healthy and ready to go, what impact does he have on the offense and how much does he change how dynamic you guys can be?
QUINN EWERS: I mean, yeah, it's always going to be hard to cover a guy that's that fast and has that much speed on the outside and can make moves and is just a really dynamic receiver.
Q. With this season alone, how much have you seen Arch grow up in terms of his mentality and how he approaches the game, and how prepared do you believe he is to take the reins of Sark's offense?
QUINN EWERS: Yeah, I think over the past two years, he's definitely grown and matured for sure to be able to be successful at Texas.
Q. What has Jake meant to you personally and to the program?
QUINN EWERS: Yeah, he means a lot to everybody on this team. I know that for sure. Just the amount of juice that he brings and just the amount of comfort that we all have been playing beside him and knowing that he's going to get us all in the right call for pass protection and run game. Just a super awesome guy and awesome to be around for sure.
Q. We talked to Joe day and Michael Taft yesterday about the grind of the season. It's a long season. You played long seasons at Southlake Carroll getting to the State title game. How is that similar it to that, and what special preparations do you have to go through to stay fresh?
QUINN EWERS: Yeah, for sure, like you said, it's a long season. It's nice to have a little more time in between each game to get as close as you can back to a hundred percent and also gives you more time to prepare for the opposing team that we're playing. But at the end of the day, it's awesome. It's awesome to still be playing football when you know other guys are at home or training for the Combine or whatever it is.
It's definitely a blessing to still be playing football, for sure.
Q. Curious what are two or three things that you specifically need to do to be successful on Wednesday?
QUINN EWERS: I think I just need to be a good leader through the adversity because adversity is going to strike, and just take care of the football.
Q. Thinking back to when you were a kid and dreaming about being a quarterback at the University of Texas, were your dreams this big? Did you think you would be playing at this stage, being the general on the field leading the team to the Peach Bowl?
QUINN EWERS: Definitely something you dream of as a kid for sure. You never know if it was actually going to happen or not but now we are actually in the situation. I don't think it's really sunk in what's really going on around me, and just the blessings that I've been able to be a part of.
Q. As you get further along into the playoff and as the season progresses, blocking out the outside noise, good or bad, seems easier said than done. What keeps you grounded and focused and locked in and not thinking about what's next? What keeps you grounded?
QUINN EWERS: Well, I think my teammates because that's when they deserve, you know. We are all in the same situations, and we all have stuff going on outside football. But we all decide to come here to the practice facility and be away from our families and be away from our loved one. We all have the ultimate goal of trying to win the National Championship and that's what everybody deserves. Everybody deserves my best, and if you ask anybody in the room, anybody in the locker room, they will say the exact same thing.
Q. Does this feel like it's new life for you, this team, now that you are in the playoffs, and you know, talk about your ability to raise your level, did you that against Clemson and did DeAndre say anything to you after he dropped the pass that ultimately got picked?
QUINN EWERS: Yeah, sure, you can look it like our first however many games until the bye week was a season, and then again until our next bye was a season and again until the playoffs was a season. You could say we are kind of in a new season for sure.
But I think what we have done a really good job of this year is taking each week as its own week and focusing on we need to do with that particular week and not being focused on what's ahead or what happened the previous week.
With DeAndre, no one is worried about that with DeAndre. I think I might have let him off the field a little too much, and it could go either way.
Q. When you have a guy like Trevor Goosby up front, how can you help a player in practice and during the game itself? As a quarterback what can you do to help him?
QUINN EWERS: I think what helps him the most and what I've noticed is just the smaller things, whether that be -- could be as simple as a high-five or knuckle bump, or just telling him hey, good job, good job pass protection, you're doing a heck of a job out there. I think that goes a long way for young guys. Because I know for sure when I was young that would help me a whole lot, just as simple as that. If an older guy or leader of the team came up to me and told me I was doing a good job, I'm like, all right, I'll settle in here a little bit and get into that flow state.
Q. Along those lines, what does it say about Trevor himself that if Cam can't go, if Kelvin is knocked out of the game, he can jump right in and you will still be protected on either side by number 74?
QUINN EWERS: He's proved that the last couple weeks. He's proven that he can come in at any moment in time and play ball. Just super proud of the way he's prepared himself and carried himself to be able to do that throughout this year. Going into the season, he got two really good tackles and Goosby is sitting behind him probably thinking he's not going to get much playing time this year, and for him to flip that switch late in the season, it's been really cool.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports