Former Ohio State quarterback Quinn Ewers met with the media for the first time in his college career on Thursday.
Ewers, who was never made available for an interview session during his four-month stint at Ohio State, spoke with Texas reporters on Thursday for the first time since he joined the Longhorns in January.
Got our first chance to talk with new Texas QB Quinn Ewers this morning pic.twitter.com/m3TQldWQGt
— Travis Recek (@TravisRecek) April 14, 2022
Asked about why he chose to transfer to Texas after just one semester at Ohio State, the Southlake native cited a desire to return to his home state and play for the team he grew up rooting for.
“I grew up always watching the Longhorns play, wanted to be in that burnt orange, and you know, there was a little obstacle in between, but I ended up here and I’m very thankful for all the opportunities God has given me, and I’m just excited to be back in the home state,” said Ewers.
“At the end of the day, I just wanted to be closer to my family and friends and stuff like that.”
Initially a member of the recruiting class of 2022, Ewers originally committed to Texas in August 2020 before flipping his commitment to Ohio State that November. Ewers ended up reclassifying into the 2021 class and enrolled at Ohio State last August, skipping his senior year of high school so that he could begin profiting from his name, image and likeness, but he opted to enter the transfer portal in December rather than spending another year with the Buckeyes as one of C.J. Stroud’s backups.
Ewers, who is competing with Hudson Card to be Texas’ starting quarterback this year, believes he is now where he always belonged.
“I feel like I kind of committed more emotionally. But at the end of the day, I ended up where I think I should be, and that’s all there is to it,” Ewers said. “It’s all in the past. I try not to focus on all that. I try to just keep tunnel vision and focus on what’s ahead.”
Although he is no longer a Buckeye, Ewers said he is still close with Stroud and wants to see Stroud have continued success this year.
“C.J.’s a great player, a great human being, we have a good relationship,” Ewers said. “I’m super pumped for what he has in store for the rest of his career and stuff like that.”
Ewers was also complimentary of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and Corey Dennis, saying he “learned a lot” from them.
“I'm super happy that I learned as much as I did,” Ewers said. “Ohio State has a great coaching staff, a great offensive coordinator in Coach Day and a good QB coach with Coach Dennis and I learned a lot out there and I'm thankful for my time up there. But like I said, I'm excited for the future.”
Ewers’ departure left Ohio State with just three scholarship quarterbacks this year, but Ryan Day believes the Buckeyes are well-stocked at the position nonetheless, with sophomore Kyle McCord and freshman Devin Brown – both top-50 overall recruits in their own right – backing up Stroud.
“I feel really good about where we're at in that room right now,” Day said Thursday. “I think the guys have the right mentality. They're developing, they're getting better every day and their focus is not about how quickly can I get on the field, Kyle and Devin, it's more about how do I develop to get better? So that when I do get on the field, I'm ready to go. But it is good to know that Kyle’s had some experience and and now it's good to get Devin in here midyear, not coming in the summer, where at least he's got 15 practices under his belt.”
