MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – One down, two to go.
The three-day Elite 11 Finals opened on Wednesday night with 22 of the top high school quarterbacks in attendance, giving Ohio State commit Quinn Ewers a strong field against which to compete.
The nation’s top-ranked 2022 prospect, for the most part, responded well. He only missed on a few targets and shined both when throwing farther down the field and when getting on the move. Rolling to his right and throwing into the end zone across his body, he put pristine touch on his passes. There aren’t many throws he can’t make, which he showed on Day 1.
The competition is stiff, though, with several other five-stars in town and the future Clemson (Cade Klubnik) and Alabama (Ty Simpson) quarterbacks trying to knock him off.
“Obviously it challenges everybody a lot more,” Ewers said. “Honestly, I feel like everybody just came out here and had more fun than they had at these other types of camps. They kind of just rolled with the flow and had a lot of fun out here.”
One of Ewers’ few bugaboos, and the one that garnered the largest reaction, came on his last pass of the day. As part of the rail shot competition, he missed his receiver by throwing it too far outside of him and got eliminated in the second round.
As he explained, he was focused on the “freaking snap count” while trying to be both loud and a bit funny.
“It sucks being accurate all day and then missing the one in the competition,” Ewers said. “I’ve got to come out here tomorrow and make up for it.”
