Quinn Ewers declares for the NFL Draft

Quinn Ewers, one of the winningest and most prolific quarterbacks in the history of Texas football, is heading to the NFL Draft. Ewers will forgo his final season of eligibility and enter the 2025 NFL Draft, he announced Wednesday.

[BOOKMARK: Check Inside Texas daily for FREE Texas Longhorns content]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Quinn Ewers (@quinn_ewers)

Ewers leaves Texas near the top of the leaderboard in a number of major passing categories. He’s third in passing yardage with 9128, third in touchdowns with 68, and third in completions with 737. All those stats were recorded in a three-year career among other Longhorn signal callers who needed four years to place themselves near the top of the leaderboard. He leaves Texas with a 27-9 record as a starter, fourth in wins behind Colt McCoy, Vince Young, and Bobby Layne and tied with Sam Ehlinger.

Ewers led Texas to back-to-back College Football Playoff semifinals during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He helped Texas win the Big 12 as it was heading out the door, just the fourth Big 12 title for the Longhorns in its almost 30 years in the league. Then in year one in the SEC, Ewers led Texas to the SEC Championship but fell short in overtime versus Georgia.

The once-mulletted quarterback was part of several major Texas victories, including two blowout wins over the rival Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Shootout, the 2023 Big 12 Championship, the 2024 College Football Playoff first round, and the 2025 Peach Bowl where he made a season-saving touchdown pass to Matthew Golden versus Arizona State.

For his career, Ewers was 737-for-1135 for 9128 yards and 68 touchdowns with 24 interceptions. He also rushed for eight touchdowns in his career, and even caught a pass during the 2023 season.

His final campaign in burnt orange saw Ewers go 293-for-445 for 3472 yards and 31 touchdowns over 12 interceptions in 14 games. His sophomore season in 2023, he was 272-for-394 for 3479 yards and 22 touchdowns over six interceptions. In 2022, starting in his first year as a Longhorn, Ewers was 172-for-296 for 2177 yards and 15 touchdowns with six interceptions.

Injuries complicated Ewers’ career. He suffered a midsection injury in 2022 during a scintillating start to the Longhorns’ 20-19 loss to No. 1 Alabama. Upon his return, he eviscerated Oklahoma during a 49-0 beatdown but would continue to make some rookie mistakes and miss on the deep passes that were critical components of Steve Sarkisian’s offense.

He was once again injured in 2023 during a contest at Houston, but returned to lead Texas to a clutch win over TCU and the eventual conference championship.

The 2024 campaign may have been his most difficult, as not only did he have to recover from yet another soft tissue injury but he had to do so with Arch Manning constantly earning more attention despite his role as the backup quarterback. Referred to by Sarkisian as a steady sea, Ewers never showed any signs of discord among his position group nor any dissatisfaction with the attention Manning was receiving as he helped Texas to back-to-back season in the final four.

Ewers was named the second-team All-SEC quarterback in 2024 after a 2023 where he earned honorable mention All-Big 12 accolades.

A product of Southlake (Texas) Carroll, Ewers was the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2022 class and committed to the previous Texas staff led by Tom Herman in the summer of 2020. A tumultuous season with numerous off-field controversies and heavy quarterback run usage prompted Ewers to back off his Texas pledge and eventually commit to Ohio State. Then, in order to take advantage of NIL laws only available to college student-athletes, Ewers enrolled at Ohio State in the summer of 2021. He appeared in one game in Columbus before entering the portal.

The Longhorns had to battle Texas Tech, TCU, and Texas A&M for Ewers’ services out of the portal, but the lifelong Texas fan elected to return to where he had placed his original commitment. A quarterback battle with Hudson Card followed ahead of the 2022 season, but Ewers won the job and never looked back.

A darling of the NIL era, Ewers has appeared in numerous commercials and taken advantage of his earning potential. He was on the cover of the EA Sports College Football 25 football game, was a star in Dr. Pepper’s Fansville campaign, and has signed deals with Rhoback, the Jeff Davis Law Firm, and many more.

A polarizing figure, Ewers enters a quarterback draft class much weaker than the one from the season prior that he had hoped to be a part of. Shedeur Sanders, Jalen Milroe, Cam Ward are his peers, and that sets Ewers up for an early selection in the draft.

[Join Inside Texas TODAY and get 7 days for just ONE DOLLAR!]

Ewers looks to be the first Longhorn quarterback selected in the draft since the Indianapolis Colts picked Ehlinger in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. As he leaves, he departs a Texas program he helped to lift from the depths of a 5-7 campaign. And, most importantly, he leaves a program where he’ll be considered one of the best to throw the football for the burnt orange.