Former 5-star recruit Quinn Ewers will join Texas football as transfer QB, have four years of eligibility

Former five-star recruit Quinn Ewers will transfer to Texas, the former Ohio State quarterback posted on social media Sunday night.

Ewers spent one season with the Buckeyes but entered the transfer portal Dec. 3, and is now closing a loop on what was a unique journey to get to this point, even by recruiting standards.

He was ranked as a five-star quarterback, the No. 1 signal-caller in the 2022 class, and originally committed to Texas in high school. Before the Longhorns fired coach Tom Herman last January, Ewers backed off his commitment and eventually flipped to Ohio State.

He then reclassified to the 2021 class to enroll a year early at Ohio State, and to capitalize on a few name, image and likeness deals that were presented to him as a high schooler. The state of Texas prohibits high school prospects from profiting off their name, image and likeness, so Ewers left high school and joined the Buckeyes in August.

Promptly after joining Ohio State, Ewers signed an NIL contract for $1.4 million over three years with GT Sports Marketing for autographs that was negotiated by Ewers' agents at Sportstars and Rubicon. He landed other NIL deals along with his big contract, including one contract with a local car dealership.

Ewers is originally from Southlake, Texas, and played for Carroll High School, where he threw for 4,003 yards, 45 touchdowns and three interceptions in the 2019 season. His 2020 season was cut short to only four games, but Ewers still had 1,221 yards passing, 15 touchdown passes and two interceptions.

Despite enrolling a year early at Ohio State, he didn't throw a pass for the Buckeyes this season as redshirt freshman C.J. Stroud won the starting job and finished as a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Ewers will join Texas with four years of eligibility remaining and will step into a situation where he will be able to compete right away for the starting job, with the Longhorns in Year 2 of Steve Sarkisian's tenure.

Texas went 5-7 this season, finishing seventh in the Big 12, and is not headed to a bowl game.