Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers discusses 'Horns Down' taunt now being legal: 'Fuel to the fire'

Last month, SEC coordinator of officials John McDaid ruled that the infamous "Horns Down" taunt against Texas will not bring a penalty.

The celebration is directed at Texas Longhorns players across all sports, but mostly in football. It would result in an unsportsmanlike penalty while they were in the Big 12.

But a new conference for the Longhorns means new rules, and they better get used to it.

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Quinn Ewers, #3 of the Texas Longhorns, throws a pass in the first quarter against the Houston Cougars at TDECU Stadium on October 21, 2023, in Houston, Texas. (Tim Warner/Getty Images)

However, it sounds like star quarterback Quinn Ewers already is.

"It doesn’t really affect us, honestly," he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

Ewers did admit that the taunt "make[s] us a little bit salty," but he seemed to hint that it's a bigger deal for the taunter than the tauntee.

"If people want to do it, and it’s that big of a deal where they want to do it, then I don’t have a problem with them allowing to do it," Ewers said. "But at the end of the day, it’s just fuel to the fire."

"Why wouldn’t people want to try to get under other people’s skin, especially in a game that we play?" he added. "It’s a violent game where things get very emotional, that’s just one piece that can make people more emotional. I know they’re definitely looking forward to doing that – especially Oklahoma, because they haven’t been able to do it, so they’re definitely gonna be looking forward to it."

A Texas Longhorns helmet sits on the sidelines during the Big 12 Championship game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma State Cowboys on December 2, 2023, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. (Chris Leduc/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Ewers grew up in Southlake, Texas, just outside of Dallas, as a Longhorns fan, and says that even when he was at Ohio State, the Horns Down was a signal, which he couldn't bring himself to do.

"I grew up a Longhorn fan, I would never do it, I could never do it. That was a signal at Ohio State, and I never even did it," he said.

McDaid says the signal will be allowed because it wouldn't "offend" the general public.

"The act itself needs to be offending to the senses," he said, via the Austin American-Statesman. "If you took that act out of a football stadium and did it in a shopping mall or a grocery store, would it offend the senses to a majority of the reasonable people in the area? That signal would not. 

"You might have some people that share that signal with you, if you did that at a grocery store or a shopping mall, depending where you are. We're going to evaluate it in context."

The Longhorns start the season at home on Aug. 31 against Colorado State. The team then has a marquee matchup against Michigan on September 7.

Ian Marshall, #97 of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, celebrates with the horns down sign after defeating the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on October 16, 2021, in Austin, Texas. (Tim Warner/Getty Images)

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Texas’ first SEC matchup will be against Mississippi State on September 28.

Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

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