Quinn Ewers’ Coach Issues Statement On His Decision To Reclassify, Enroll Early At Ohio State

"He is an incredible young man who exemplifies what it means to be a Dragon."

Although he’ll now have to replace his starting quarterback just a few weeks before the beginning of the regular season, Southlake (Texas) Carroll head coach Riley Dodge issued a statement on Monday afternoon supporting five-star quarterback Quinn Ewers’ decision to skip his senior year and enroll early at Ohio State.

“We recognize the in-depth research by the University Interscholastic League on Texas’ NIL Legislation on determining what is allowed by law for Texas high school athletes," Dodge said. “After gathering and analyzing all information, Quinn decided what he felt is best for his future (which) is to forego his senior year.

“The entire Dragon community will greatly miss Quinn on and off the field. He is an incredible young man who exemplifies what it means to be a Dragon – inspiring excellence in his teammates and modeling what excellence looks like in the classroom and on the field.

“Dragon nation is very proud of what Quinn has accomplished, and we wish him the best at Ohio State. At this time, we respectfully ask that everyone allows our program to continue to concentrate on the 2021 football season and our Dragon athletes.”

The 6-foot-3 and 206-pound Ewers, who is now considered the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2021, threw for 6,445 yards and 73 touchdowns during his two years as a starter at Southlake Carroll. That includes leading the Dragons to an appearance in the state championship game as a junior.

Ewers has one final online class to complete in order to earn his high school diploma. He’s set to join the Ohio State football program, which opens preseason camp on Wednesday, at some point in August with hopes of competing with redshirt freshmen C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller and true freshman Kyle McCord for the starting role.

“Ewers will arrive on campus with knowing hardly any aspect of the OSU offense. 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,” Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel said. “He'll compete against three quarterbacks who have been on campus for at least six months, which gives them a considerable advantage. 

"Ewers will have significant work ahead of him to catch up, as he needs to learn the playbook, mesh with new teammates and learn a completely new academic and social environment.”

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Andrew Lind
ANDREW LIND

Andrew Lind is an Ohio State beat writer and photographer at BuckeyesNow, founder of The Ohio State Uniform Database and the NCAA and NFL writer at SportsLogos.net.