Although he spent only four months at Ohio State, Quinn Ewers still has fond memories of his time with the Buckeyes.
Three years after transferring to Texas from Ohio State, Ewers will go head-to-head against the team he started his college career with as the Longhorns face the Buckeyes in Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl. While he’s happy with the decision he made three years ago to return to his home state and become a Longhorn, Ewers is glad he had the opportunity to start his career at Ohio State.
“Learned a lot while I was there under Coach (Ryan) Day, and C.J. (Stroud), and just that whole room was awesome to be around. Super thankful for that time that I got to spend there,” Ewers said Monday. “So I don't regret any decision I've made on going or anything like that. The main reason I went was I felt like I had a great relationship with the coaching staff and they were winning a lot of games and I wanted to go be a part of something like that. And the reason I came back to Texas was 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 being from Texas.”
Originally a member of the 2022 recruiting class, Ewers acknowledged that his decision to reclassify into the 2021 class was driven by the desire to begin making NIL money, as the state of Texas does not allow athletes to make NIL deals while competing in high school sports. And he said it wasn’t easy to go from being the star quarterback at Southlake Carroll High School to sitting on the bench at Ohio State after making that decision in August after Ohio State’s preseason camp had already started.
“For me to kind of go in in the middle of fall camp and practice at a college level was definitely a shock, for sure,” Ewers said. “It's definitely tough whenever I've never really been a backup in my life, and obviously C.J. was very much deserving to be playing, for sure. … But it's tough when you're supposed to be a senior and you see all your buddies who you grew up with still playing football, and I'm just sitting obviously because I wasn't prepared to go play a game.”
Despite being ranked as the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect even after his reclassification, Ewers appeared in just one game as a Buckeye, handing the ball off twice at the end of a 56-7 win over Michigan State. Despite the lack of playing time, Ewers believes his time at Ohio State helped him become the quarterback he is today because of what he learned on the practice field and in the meeting rooms.
“They did a really good job of preparing from week to week, and that's the first time that I really got to see it firsthand at this level, how to watch film and how to prepare for the upcoming game. Because obviously it's different from the high school level. And getting to see that firsthand, I think, was awesome for me,” Ewers said.
Quinn Ewers was one of C.J. Stroud’s backups during his only season at Ohio State.
Most of all, though, Ewers is grateful for the time he got to spend with Ohio State’s players during that season. And he’s excited to have the opportunity to see some of them again this week.
“Yeah, it's going to be awesome just to get to see all those guys again,” Ewers said. “I mean, in the semester that I was there, I feel like I made some pretty good relationships while I was there. And those guys were fun to be around when I was there. They took me in in kind of a weird time for sure as me coming in kind of in the middle of fall camp, and some of those guys just kind of saying ‘What's up?’ to me, it was as simple as that and kind of welcoming me in, and I felt like I belonged there. And it's going to be fun to get to see those guys.”
Ewers said one of the closest friendships he’s maintained from his time at Ohio State is with Kyle McCord, who was also a freshman quarterback in the 2021 class and also ended up transferring out of OSU, though he spent three years with the Buckeyes before leaving for Syracuse. But Ewers also still thinks highly of the members of his class who are still at Ohio State, including Jack Sawyer, who was one of his roommates as a freshman. And while he’ll be trying to beat his former Ohio State teammates on the field on Friday, he thinks seeing them in person again will bring back fond memories of the time they spent together in Columbus.
“To me, those relationships feel like if I'd see them walking down the side of the road, it'd be like I was hanging out with them yesterday,” Ewers said. “I just feel like the relationships that I built there, they were definitely super special.”
Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, the lone member of OSU’s 2021 recruiting class who was a part of OSU’s pre-Cotton Bowl media availability on Sunday, spoke highly of Ewers when asked about the Texas quarterback – though he made it clear he’ll be trying to make life difficult on his former teammate.
“Quinn's my guy. He's a great competitor, great quarterback. I think it'll be fun going against him, trying to get him running around,” Williams said with a laugh.
Ryan Day also spoke highly of Ewers when asked about him on Friday. While he acknowledged that Ewers’ time at Ohio State didn’t go the way he had hoped it would, he still holds Ewers in high regard as both a person and quarterback.
“He decided to come really in the middle of preseason camp for us, and so it was a little bit strange, but with college football, you look to adapt the best you can. And then C.J. really had a great season that season, and he decided he really wanted to play, and boy, it was disappointing for us, but we certainly understood,” Day said. “And from afar, I've watched him and he's got a lot of talent. He's a really good player. He comes from a great family. And he's had a great career at Texas. And a lot of people here still have good relationships with him and think the world of him.”
“To me, those relationships feel like if I'd see them walking down the side of the road, it'd be like I was hanging out with them yesterday.”– Quinn Ewers on his relationship with his former Ohio State teammates
Now, however, the focus for both Ohio State and Ewers is on trying to get the best of one another with a spot in the national championship game on the line. No one on Ohio State’s defense understands that challenge better than safety Caleb Downs, who was on the wrong end of a game against Ewers last year at Alabama when Ewers threw for 349 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-24 win over the Crimson Tide.
“Really smart quarterback, knows how to operate their offense, puts the ball in the right places and then Coach (Steve) Sarkisian does a great job putting him in positions to win,” Downs said of the challenges of defending Ewers.
Ohio State’s defense could give Ewers the toughest challenge he’s faced all season, however, as the Buckeyes enter the Cotton Bowl leading the nation with only 152.4 passing yards allowed per game. Ewers feels confident in his ability to lead the Longhorns to victory, but he knows he and the rest of the Texas’ offense will have to be at their best to have a chance to beat an Ohio State team that’s been dominant on both sides of the ball in the first two rounds of the CFP.
“We just gotta go play our game and execute at a high level and have first- and second-down wins that will ultimately lead to shorter third downs and more manageable third downs. And if we're able to do that, then the drive will continue to work down the field, and then obviously we have to score in the red zone,” Ewers said. “Field goals, I don't think will get it done.”
