5-Star QB Prospect Quinn Ewers to Skip Senior Year of HSFB; Will Enroll at Ohio State

Quinn Ewers, the top-ranked prospect in the class of 2022, will forgo his senior season of high school and enroll in Ohio State early, his father, Curtis Ewers, told Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports.

Ewers discussed his decision in a post on Twitter:

Per Thamel, Ewers will benefit greatly from the NCAA's new name, image and likeness rights rules and is "expected to make nearly a million dollars in the next year from endorsements, which he can't while playing high school football in Texas." 

Ewers said in his tweet that a part of his decision was the ruling by the University Interscholastic Association in Texas that he couldn't profit off his NIL rights while finishing his senior season at Southlake Carroll High School.

But he added that the decision was also a football one, giving him the opportunity to get a head start on his college career, as he's close to completing the final high school class he needs to get his diploma. 

Riley Dodge, Ewers' coach, reacted to his quarterback's exit, saying the "community will greatly miss" him.

Even with Ohio State's untested trio of quarterbacks under scholarship—Jack Miller, CJ Stroud and Kyle McCord—it's hard to imagine Ewers will see the field in 2021 with the expectation that he'll be cleared to start practicing in August. 

As Thamel noted: "While it will be tempting to insert him as immediately competing for the starting job, there's such a significant learning curve that reasonable expectation would be to see this as a year of development."

As for what Ohio State will be getting in the young quarterback, Gabe Brooks of 247Sports.com called Ewers an "elite" prospect and a "pro-style quarterback with athleticism and mobility that qualify for a dual-threat label." He added Ewers is an "elite improvisational quarterback who can extend plays and remain accurate on the move" and a "future impact high-major starter with long-term potential to be taken high in the NFL draft."

Ewers has become a trailblazer in the new NIL landscape. It's unlikely he'll be the last high-profile prospect to go this route, especially in states that prohibit high school players from profiting off their name, image and likeness.