Ohio State’s logjam at quarterback is set to get even heavier in the coming days as Quinn Ewers has announced he will skip his final high school football season to enroll at Ohio State this month.
Ewers, the top-ranked player in the entire 2022 recruiting class, originally planned to be on campus this upcoming January as an early enrollee, but has now been reclassified to the 2021 class as he nears completion of his final high school class this summer. Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel was the first to report Ewers’ intentions on Monday, and the five-star recruit took to Twitter to officially announce his decision for the upcoming season.
“This is not just a financial decision; this is about what is best for my football career,” Ewers said. “At 18, and with one final class about to be completed to earn my high school degree, I feel it’s time to get the jump on my college career that is available to me. I am eager to start learning from Coach Day and the rest of the coaching staff.”
While it is now clear Ewers intends to be on the field for the Buckeyes rather than his hometown Southlake Carroll Dragons in 2021, it remains to be seen when he will be cleared to begin practicing in Columbus. Ohio State is set to open its preseason camp on Wednesday, and Thamel reported there is an expectation Ewers will gain eligibility “at some point during camp.”
Whenever Ewers does take to the practice field for the first time as a Buckeye, he will join an already crowded quarterback room that currently features three highly-touted quarterback recruits in their own right in C.J. Stroud, Jack Miller, and Kyle McCord. Both Stroud and Miller redshirted as freshmen last season, and McCord enrolled in January in preparation for his first season at Ohio State.
Ewers’ learning curve will be steep when he arrives on campus, so much so that it’s tough to envision him factoring into the quarterback competition that will take center stage for Ohio State throughout camp. But as the highest-ranked recruit at any position to ever commit to Ohio State, Ewers promises to be nothing less than a tantalizing possibility roaming the sidelines this fall while setting himself up to be firmly in the mix for the starting job next season.
In addition to laying the groundwork for next season, Ewers will be able to begin earning money from the use of his name, image, and likeness (NIL), an area in which the star recruit is expected to earn considerably from day one as a college athlete. Under Texas state laws, high school athletes are not permitted to receive NIL money and retain high school eligibility, which likely played a significant role in forcing Ewers’ hand.
For Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis, Ewers’ decision speeds up the clock on the quarterback’s time in Columbus, creating an even greater sense of urgency on recruiting the position in the upcoming classes. Whereas a January enrollment by Ewers would have spaced out the possible departure years for the quarterback depth chart through 2024, Day now finds himself in a situation where it’s possible as few as one —or none —of the four quarterbacks are still on the roster following the 2023 season.
Nobody will shed a tear for Day’s current predicament, of course. The situation Ewers has created with his decision is highly enviable for sure, and one that is unlike any other program has experienced in modern-day recruiting. With Ewers now in the fold, Ohio State’s 2021 recruiting class now features seven five-star players, including two at quarterback.
