ESPN's Matt Miller: Quinn Ewers needs to play up to potential, solidify NFL Draft stock this season

Quinn Ewers is one of the more intriguing prospects expected to be on the board in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Texas quarterback came in as the No. 8 overall pick in ESPN analyst Matt Miller’s preseason mock draft on Thursday ahead of a pivotal season.

Ewers’ college career has been an interesting one. He re-classified to the Class of 2021 and enrolled at Ohio State, where he played in just one game late in the year. He then entered the transfer portal and made his way back to Texas, where he played 10 games as he missed time due to a shoulder injury.

There’s understandably plenty of hype around Ewers, the former Five Star Plus+ prospect. He has a high upside, and Miller said he sees a world where Ewers makes it into the early part of the first round.

“I think he has a chance to make it to the top 15 picks of the first round if he plays up to the level that we saw at times last year,” Miller said Thursday on College Football Live. “He’s got to stay healthy. We saw the shoulder injury. But the weapons around him are fantastic at the University of Texas, an improving offensive line. So Ewers is a player that can really move up draft boards a lot this year. There’s a lot of pressure on him.”

Ewers showed flashes of what he could be last year at Texas, throwing for 2,177 yards and 15 touchdowns. One of his biggest performances came in the Alamo Bowl against Washington when he threw for 369 yards and a touchdown, giving him some momentum heading into 2023.

Matt Miller on why he’s so high on Quinn Ewers in his preseason mock draft: ‘It’s the potential’

Miller noted the biggest selling point about Ewers at the moment is his potential, between his ranking on the recruiting trail and his up-and-down 2022 season. That’s been a common tale from other up-and-coming quarterbacks, and Miller said Ewers has a chance to solidify himself as one of the top players in the draft if he puts together a big season.

“It’s that potential. You’re absolutely right,” Miller said of why he put Ewers at No. 8 overall. “You can’t really watch a game outside of that first half, maybe, against Alabama last year and say, ‘That’s a top-10 pick. That’s a first-round pick.’ It’s the potential. And I know everyone’s super excited — I’m super excited about Texas this year, obviously — but he has to perform because there are a couple guys behind him who are really good.

“The seat’s hot, and I think it’s the potential, you know, like some of the guys we’ve seen before. Spencer Rattler at Oklahoma being a good example. Sam Howell at North Carolina. Guys who we were saying, ‘Gosh, that potential is there. But now you’ve got to play up to that level.’ And I think that’s where we’re at right now with Quinn.”

Ewers will have his first opportunity to improve his stock when Texas takes on Rice on Sept. 2 to kick off the 2023 season.