When the clock hits zero at the end of Saturday’s shootout — er, showdown — in Austin, I expect one quarterback will remind us why the words “Heisman Trophy winner” are already at the top of his résumé while the other quarterback will remind us why the words “0 previous career starts vs. Power 5 competition” were at the top of his.

Just kidding. That’s a horrible thing to put on your résumé. That’d be like me putting the words “0-time Pulitzer Prize winner” on mine.

What Quinn Ewers and Bryce Young both have on their résumé is this: They were the No. 1 quarterback recruits in their respective classes. Ewers reclassified to enroll early at Ohio State, where he got to learn from Ryan Day and reap the NIL rewards before transferring back to his home state of Texas. Young, on the other hand, stayed in Tuscaloosa after his freshman season at Alabama instead of following long-time friend Steve Sarkisian to Austin.

It’s fitting that Ewers and Young will cross paths. It’s who’s now vs. who’s next. They’re 2 of the 7 highest-rated QB recruits in the 247sports era. We don’t get those matchups every day. In fact, here are the only instances we’ve seen 2 of the top-10 rated quarterback recruits of the 21st century face off:

  • Nov. 29, 2008: Mark Sanchez vs. Jimmy Clausen
  • Sept. 12, 2009: Matt Barkley vs. Terrelle Pryor
  • Oct. 17, 2009: Matt Barkley vs. Jimmy Clausen
  • 2019 Fiesta Bowl: Justin Fields vs. Trevor Lawrence
  • 2020 Sugar Bowl: Justin Fields vs. Trevor Lawrence

Young vs. Ewers will be No. 6 (I’m not sure why Ewers isn’t listed on the all-time QB recruit rankings but he was rated 1.000 in the 247sports composite coming out of high school). Here’s a wild stat: In those 5 games, only 2 of those games saw both quarterbacks throw multiple touchdown passes.

My guess? At least 1 QB will have multiple touchdown passes on Saturday. Like, the guy with a Heisman Trophy who has thrown multiple touchdown passes in all but 1 career start, which came against arguably the best defense of the 21st century. Needless to say, 2021 Georgia was a touch better than a Texas defense that was fortunate to finish inside the top 100 in scoring last year.

It’s not really a fair comparison of what they’ll face at this point of their careers, even if the recruiting rankings and buzz suggest it is. Young isn’t facing Will Anderson Jr. and Dallas Turner. Ewers is. Young isn’t a 19-year-old kid trying to outplay a team led by the greatest coach the sport has ever had. Ewers is.

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Don’t let the swarm of burnt orange and skyrocketing temperatures fool you. Saturday is set up for Young to go off, not Ewers.

Will that context be present with the swarm of Twitter experts who are ready to dunk on the mullet-rocking, former No. 1 overall recruit? Of course not. Context will be needed to evaluate just how far Ewers is from becoming what Young was in 2021. The dude is so inexperienced that he’s literally still learning where to park during Texas games. Alabama could win this game 52-24 and we could see plenty of maturity and development from the Texas starter.

We actually saw that a bit in the opener after Ewers’ debut started with an interception. But once he settled into the game, you saw that 5-star ability on display. His arm strength and poise are undeniable. Sarkisian praised his decision-making in terms of where to go with the football.

If you’re telling yourself that Ewers is Tate Martell 2.0, watch this play and tell me that he’s destined to be a bust:

Against Alabama, maybe Ewers doesn’t have time to see that the swing pass is covered and that he should step up in the pocket to deliver a dart in the seam. Anderson tends to limit the whole “working through progressions” thing. He seems excited about the possibility of facing a young signal-caller like Ewers.

Then again, maybe we’ll actually earn some respect for Ewers’ toughness with how he handles those vaunted Alabama edge-rushers. He could become like Rocky winning over the Russian crowd at the end of “Rocky IV” for hanging in and eating punches from the imposing Ivan Drago.

(In this sense, the Russian crowd is like the Twitter experts. Just go with it.)

Young is the gold standard for college quarterbacks right now. Ewers is still trying to figure out his strengths and weaknesses, with an emphasis on the latter. In all likelihood, this Alabama defense will show Ewers (and the college football world) exactly what his weaknesses are.

Maybe it’s that he actually changes his arm angles too much when pressured. Perhaps it’s that he’s a bit too confident in his arm and he doesn’t take the check-down enough. You can be considered a perfect prospect and still have weaknesses surface when, say, an Alabama defense comes to down. It’s probably one of the few times in his football career that Ewers can watch an opposing quarterback and learn a thing or two.

For all we know, we’ll learn Saturday that Ewers is indeed ready to be a star. Nothing puts a player on the map like taking down Goliath. Or rather, Alabama.

Oh, that’s right. Texas hasn’t taken down an AP top-4 team since 2008, when Ewers was 5 years old. Shoot, Texas hasn’t even faced an AP top-4 team since 2017. Surely that context will be remembered by those who’ll inevitably take to social media to blast Ewers for not being a mirror image of Young.

That’s the world we live in, I guess. For the rest of us, I have a suggestion.

Kick back, relax and watch 2 of the more talented young quarterbacks of the 21st century square off Saturday.