ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit is in Austin as the College GameDay crew prepares for the Texas football matchup with Georgia.
A former quarterback for the Ohio State, Herbstreit had some insight into the battle between Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck and Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers. Both are projected to be taken early in the upcoming NFL draft but if he had to pick between the two, Herbstreit would lean Ewers.
For now, that is.
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"I just think that he's played enough football and he's been in Sark's system that is a little more turnkey to the NFL," Herbstreit said. "How he plays the rest of this year ... how they both play in this game. We could be talking Sunday, that's how close it is."
Ewers once led all Heisman Trophy contenders after helping the Longhorns race to the top of the national polls. However, he suffered an abdominal strain in a Week 3 win over UTSA and missed the next two games before returning for Saturday's 34-3 victory over Oklahoma. The quarterback has thrown for 890 yards with nine touchdowns and three interceptions this season.
Beck was a preseason Heisman favorite and is coming off his most productive game of the season with 459 yards on 36-of-48 passing with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Beck this season has 1,818 yards passing, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions.
The two are long shots in the current Heisman race, with Beck at +1400 and Ewers at +2200 according to current BetMGM odds. However, Herbstreit believes they both have the talent to be successful in the NFL.
"I think they're both going to have great careers at the next stop. But I think if you're saying just right now as we sit here, I think that Sark's system, having command of that, can really benefit him as he goes down the road in his career," Herbstreit said.
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: College GameDay's Kirk Herbstreit picks Quinn Ewers over Carson Beck