ANN ARBOR, Mich. — During a 31-12 win Saturday at Michigan, Texas gained 389 yards of offense. The Longhorns, though, lost five yards on one of their more notable snaps at the Big House.

Leading 24-6 in the third quarter, Texas ran a botched play from the Michigan 3. As the play quickly dissolved, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers surrendered and took a knee. But even though Ewers gave himself up, he received a late shove from 265-pound edge rusher Cameron Brandt.

With Ewers unexpectedly on the ground, the Texas offensive line sprung into action. Texas guard Hayden Conner quickly shoved Brandt off his quarterback while center Jake Majors exchanged words with Michigan's Kenneth Grant. Some pushing and shoving ensued in a subsequent scrum that involved Texas linemen DJ Campbell and Kelvin Banks Jr. before flags were thrown for offsetting penalties.

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"It kind of just shows you the brotherhood we have here," Majors said. "At the end of the day, we're not going to allow stuff like that to happen. That's our quarterback, and as an O-line, we've gotta protect him."

So is it understood that it isn't acceptable for opposing defenders to take unnecessary shots on Ewers?

"Yeah. Y'all saw it," Majors said.

On its surface, offensive linemen rushing to the defense of their quarterback shouldn't be a story. Texas, though, isn't that far removed from a 40-21 loss at Arkansas during the 2021 season. The Razorbacks landed a couple of questionable blows to the Texas quarterback during the night in Fayetteville, but the Longhorn linemen notably didn't react in a defensive manner to those hits.

Three years later, it appears that things have changed inside the Texas locker room.

"Hey, we've got a tight-knit group," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "We go into every game and we understand that we've got to play as one. Nobody likes to see their quarterback getting pushed around, shoved around. Those guys got a lot of pride. We've got four returning starters with a lot of starts under their belts up front that have been in some real battles with Quinn on the field. I just don't think that they're ever going to stand there and let him kind of be a lone wolf."

For his part, Ewers said he was appreciative of his linemen sticking up for him. Ewers told reporters that "for a quarterback, that's probably the best feeling in the world besides like converting a third down or throwing a touchdown pass."

"To see those guys have my back the way that they did, it's just a great feeling," Ewers added.

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas linemen defend Quinn Ewers during Michigan football game