Steve Sarkisian reveals process of earning Quinn Ewers' transfer commitment to Texas

The Texas Longhorns made a big move by adding former Ohio State quarterback Quinn Ewers from the NCAA Transfer Portal. Ewers was originally part of the 2022 class before be reclassified to 2021 and joined Ohio State at the beginning of this season. He was an On3 Consensus five-star plus quarterback and the top prospect in both classes.

Adding Ewers wasn’t the only quarterback move for Texas, though. The Longhorns also added On3 Consensus four-star quarterback Maalik Murphy. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was looking for two quarterbacks in this year’s class after an inconsistent season at the position between Casey Thompson and Hudson Card last season. Sarkisian has had similar situations to the current Texas quarterback room, and he is excited to move forward with Ewers and Murphy.

“We’re lucky. We got two great quarterbacks,” Sarkisian said of adding Ewers and Murphy to the Texas quarterback room. “Quinn and Malik are both fantastic players. I think the initial thought is how do you get both these guys in the same class? Well in essence, they’re not now. Quinn being a transfer, he’s kind of a class ahead. He’s really in the ’21 class and Malik’s in the ’22 class.

“I was telling the story of really the 2016 season at Alabama. Going into 2017 when Jalen Hurts was the SEC Player of the Year. And I go on a flight to Hawaii and I go recruit Tua Tagovailoa and then I get on a plane and I fly to Florida and I go recruit Mac Jones. They both show up at Alabama and in that same quarterback room was Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovalioa, Mac Jones. All of those three guys won championship sin their own right. All of which got all the great accolades and now today, they’re three of 32 men in the world that are starting quarterbacks and face of their franchise in the NFL. So we believe in our ability to develop the quarterback and I think that both of these young men saw that.”

Sarkisian began recruiting Ewers before taking the Texas job

Getting Ewers was a big move for Texas. But the process of his recruitment began long before Sarkisian became the head coach of the Longhorns.

“Both of their recruiting processes were different for us,” Sarkisian said. “Quite frankly with Quinn and Maalik, I saw them at a very young age. I went and saw both these guys when they were younger in their high school career. Quinn, when he originally decommitted from Texas after I’d already started recruiting him, I think we were one of the first teams when I was at the other school that was kind of in the mix and then he decided to go to Ohio State.

“Then ultimately I end up getting the job here and we had a few conversations. But I think in his mind going to Ohio State was what he wanted to do. I respected him for wanting to do that. Then obviously reclassifying and going early and maybe not having the experience he wanted to have and our timing of where we were of really wanting to take two quarterbacks. I think was no secret.”

While the quarterback room might be crowded now at Texas, the Longhorns are loaded with young talent at the position. Sarkisian said that he was upfront with Murphy about what things could look like with adding two quarterbacks.

“We were very upfront and honest with Maalik about that,” Sarkisian added. “We wanted to take two whether it was two high school or one high school, one transfer, we definitely wanted to take two. It worked out in a way where Quinn became available. He went through the process and I credit him for that. He didn’t just jump from Ohio State to Texas, he went through the process in his own mind to see if this was the best fit for him and ultimately that’s what be believed and we believe as well.”