Quinn Ewers: I grew up always wanting to wear Burnt Orange

It wasn’t how he envisioned the journey going, but star quarterback Quinn Ewers finally ended up back in Texas. It’s quite a story considering he grew up watching Longhorns football games.

Ewers, a Texas native, became a high school football star at Southlake Carroll High School. But after committing to — and subsequently de-committing from — Texas, he made a detour to Columbus at Ohio State.

Now, he’s found his way back home. He sounded pretty excited about it in his first press conference as a Longhorn this week.

“I grew up always watching the Longhorns play, wanted to be in that Burnt Orange,” Ewers said. “There was a little obstacle in between, but I ended up here and I’m very thankful for all the opportunities God has given me. I’m just excited to be back in the home state.”

Ewers is from Southlake, Texas, which is roughly 200 miles north of Austin. He became a former Five Star Plus+ recruit and the nation’s top prospect from the Class of 2021, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. After re-classifying from the Class of 2022, he chose Ohio State and locked up a landmark NIL deal.

But things didn’t work out in Columbus, and Ewers entered the transfer portal, becoming the No. 6-ranked player available, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings. That’s when he ended up heading back home to play for Steve Sarkisian. Now, he’s going to be competing to be the Longhorns’ starting quarterback against Hudson Card.

Quinn Ewers explains what factored into decision to leave Ohio State

Ewers’ transfer to Texas was a big storyline that took place during the wild college football offseason. Since coming in, his progression since joining the’ program has been heavily followed throughout spring practices.

Meeting with the media on Thursday for the first time since transferring to Texas, Ewers was asked what factored into his decision to leave Ohio State and come to Texas.

“Obviously, CJ is a great player, great human being,” Ewers said of Stroud when asked if he decided to transfer because Stroud would be the starter again. “We have a good relationship. I’m super pumped for what he has in store for the rest of his career. At the end of the day, I just wanted to be closer to my family and friends and stuff like that.”