Briefly as a Buckeye, Texas QB Quinn Ewers has returned to his roots to lead the Longhorns’ resurgence

AUSTIN, Texas — Long before Quinn Ewers became a key part of Texas’ resurgence as a college football power, he headed north to Ohio State, lured by money and the chance to play in a program already competing for national championships.

After landing on campus in the middle of training camp and spending a semester deep on the depth chart in Columbus, Ewers returned south to become the leader of Steve Sarkisian’s rebuilding project with the Longhorns.

Ewers and Texas will face his former team when the fifth-seeded Longhorns (13-2) and eighth-seeded Buckeyes (12-2) clash in the Cotton Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

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

Ewers grew up in suburban Dallas, where the lanky kid developed a super-smooth throw and starred for Southlake Carroll High School football en route to becoming the nation’s top-rated quarterback.

Everyone wanted him. Including Ohio State, where he caught the eye of coach Ryan Day at the Buckeyes’ 2018 recruiting camp, Ewers was still in eighth grade.

Day, who was Ohio State’s offensive coordinator at the time, marveled at the youngster’s “awesome release.”

“I remember grabbing him and grabbing his dad and saying, ‘Man, you’ve got a bright future ahead of you. “I don’t know if this is good or bad, but we’re going to offer you a scholarship, even in eighth grade,” Day said. “Again, I don’t know if it’s legal or not, but we are.”

Still, Ewers seems destined to be a Longhorn. He committed to Texas until 2020, but as the program continued to struggle under then-coach Tom Herman, Ewers transferred to Ohio State.

The Buckeyes have been a consistent playoff team. And money had to be earned. Ewers, even younger, was a top national recruiter in the new era of compensating college athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness. Texas state law did not allow high school athletes to earn money. Ewers reclassified as a senior, left high school before the 2021 season and committed early to Ohio State, where he had a NIL contract worth nearly $1.5 million.

“Me and my family had a pretty big opportunity in front of us and we felt it was a good decision for me to go ahead and forgo my senior year and enroll early at Ohio State, and I (had) an opportunity to have some good money in our pockets as a family,” Ewers said.

“I don’t regret any of the decisions I made to leave or anything like that, but the main reason I left was because I felt like I had a great relationship with the coaching staff. And they were winning a lot of games, and I wanted to be a part of something like that,” he said.

The money was there in Columbus. There was no playing time. Freshman CJ Stroud won the starting quarterback competition while Ewers was still trying to figure out where to go on campus.

“I definitely had to grow up super fast,” Ewers said. “For me, going into the middle of fall camp and practicing at the varsity level was definitely a shock, for sure.”

Ewers played just two snaps in the 2021 season and did not throw a pass. Ewers said he continued to form good relationships with his teammates and noted that he and Buckeyes standout defensive lineman Jack Sawyer were freshman roommates. Sawyer is one of the best players Ohio State’s top-rated defense and they will surely meet again.

“It was fun being with those guys while I was there,” Ewers said. “I felt like I belonged there.”

But from his seat on the Buckeyes’ bench, Ewers still looked back at Texas as the Longhorns struggled to 5-7 in Sarkisian’s first season. An opportunity awaits in the Lone Star State.

Sarkisian’s rebuild needed a jumpstart, and Ewers was the spark. Ewers transferred to the Longhorns in time to join spring training, where he beat out Hudson Card and was the starter for the first game of the 2022 season.

Despite various shoulder, abdominal and ankle injuries in each of his three seasons, Ewers is 27-8 as a starter. He led Texas to its first Big 12 title in 15 years in 2023, its final season in that league, and to the SEC championship game this season. Texas is the only one of last season’s four playoff teams to return under the expanded 12-team format this season.

Ewers enters the game against his old team with 8,845 career passing yards and 66 touchdowns, both of which rank third in school history. He has a year of eligibility remaining but is expected to turn pro, opening the door for backup Arch Manning to take over.

In a Peach Bowl overtime thriller over Arizona State, Ewers’ final three passes were the score and the stage is set for a storybook ending over the next two weeks.

“When he went to Ohio State early, he should have been a senior in high school. And when we got him back, he was still a freshman in our eyes,” Sarkisian said. “Watching him grow into the leader he’s grown to be for us, his ability to have the poise and poise that he has, whether it’s through injuries, whatever that looks like.

“To be at his best when needed…I think it’s all from a seismic shift from a maturity standpoint, physically and mentally,” Sarkisian said.