Opportunity sent Quinn Ewers to Ohio State, and opportunity drove him back to Texas

You’d almost run out of fingers counting how many times Quinn Ewers has sent the college football world into a frenzy, but the first time it happened was when he started his career at Ohio State early in order to follow an opportunity not available close to home.

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Ewers, who was once committed to Tom Herman‘s Texas, ended up committing to Ohio State in November of 2020. Ryan Day was in his second year as Ohio State’s head coach and capitalized on a relationship he had started building as Urban Meyer‘s offensive coordinator when Ewers was in eighth grade.

Ewers was originally a member of the 2022 class but elected to enroll at Ohio State in the middle of August 2021. Ewers admitted on Monday that NIL was a primary reason behind that decision.

“One of the main things was that the Texas Legislature wasn’t going to allow high school football players to be paid,” Ewers said. “Me and my family had a pretty big opportunity in front of us that we felt it was a good decision to go on and forgo my senior year and enroll early at Ohio State and have the opportunity to have some good money in our pockets as a family.”

Enrolling during preseason camp was a challenge. He entered a quarterback room that featured a number of star players attempting to succeed Justin Fields in CJ Stroud, Jack Miller, and Kyle McCord. But Ewers wasn’t trying to compete, he was trying to keep his head above water.

“Definitely had to grow up super-fast,” Ewers said. “Fall camp is not easy. Going from a high school schedule to where you’re practicing before or after school, to going into fall camp and having to practice at a college level was definitely a shock for sure. I’m just super thankful for my opportunity that I had up there.”

During a difficult freshman season, Ewers saw only two total snaps. Both were handoffs versus Michigan State. At the same time, Stroud morphed into a star quarterback on the way to an early selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. Miller and McCord made the most of their time advantage to up their odds of taking over once Stroud left for professional opportunities.

After the 2021 season, Ewers elected to enter the portal and open up his recruitment once again. The mulletted NIL-darling quarterback was back on the market and seeking another opportunity.

“It was disappointing for us, but we certainly understood,” Day said. “From afar, I’ve watched him, and he’s got a lot of talent. He’s a really good player. He comes from a great family.”

Ewers’ time in Columbus is not something he looks back on with regret. In fact, during his Monday time with the media, Ewers was as forthright as he’s been while wearing burnt orange about how fondly he looks upon his days being a part of the Buckeye football program.

“Learned a lot when I was there under Coach Day and CJ, just that whole room was awesome to be around,” Ewers said. “Super thankful for the time I got to spend there, and like I said I learned a whole lot. I don’t regret any decision I made on going or anything like that, but the main reason I went was I felt like I had a great relationship with the coaching staff. They were winning a lot of games and I wanted to go be a part of something like that.”

Ewers and his circle had experience on their side in their next recruitment. Entering a crowded quarterback room in Columbus did little to help the Southlake Carroll product’s development. After all, with three quarterbacks ahead of him, there weren’t many reps to go around.

Finding opportunity to play was important, but being closer to his home in DFW mattered as well.

“The reason I came back to Texas was to be closer to where I’m from and closer to the resources I have and the relationships I’ve built over time being from Texas,” Ewers said.

At Texas, he found a quarterback room without a clear No. 1. Hudson Card and Casey Thompson traded starts for assorted reasons in Steve Sarkisian‘s 5-7 debut campaign as Texas’ head coach. Once the details were hammered out following the 2021 season, Ewers committed to Texas, Card remained, and Thompson transferred to Nebraska.

Things didn’t all of a sudden become easy when Ewers joined the program to which he had originally committed. He was in a competition with Card that carried deep into training camp.

“Toward the end of that, Sark and me had a good conversation where he pretty much told me it’s my job,” Ewers said. “I think that was a big step for me obviously because it makes things a whole lot easier when you do know you’re going to be the quarterback, especially the starter.”

Ewers took his chance and ran with it. He mentioned his first quarter against Alabama in 2022 gave him the confidence to play against elite defenses at an elevated level. That only lasted the one quarter before Dallas Turner knocked him out of the next few games. Despite what he described as “ups and downs going on with the injury,” it was the opportunity Ewers needed.

He still builds upon that 9-for-12 start.

“I feel like that obviously helped build confidence in me and everybody around me,” Ewers said.

That confidence was key for a number of huge games since then, namely the 2022 Oklahoma game, the 2023 Alabama game, the 2023 Big 12 Championship, the 2024 Michigan game, the 2024 Oklahoma game, and, most recently, the 2025 Peach Bowl where Ewers’ 4th-and-13 line-of-scrimmage check resulted in the touchdown pass to Matthew Golden that saved Texas’ season. All those games featured moments when Ewers became the talk of the college football world.

Before he was doing that for the Longhorns, he was hoping he would be the next in the lengthy line of great Buckeye quarterbacks. And in an upcoming matchup between the Longhorns and the Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl, he’ll be battling with his old team and facing his old coach.

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If he can become the focus of the sport once again, over three years since leaving behind the Lone Star State for NIL possibilities associated with playing for a power program, it’ll be a legendary burnt bookend to a Buckeye beginning and an opportunity in Austin taken full advantage of.