This is a massive game for quarterback Quinn Ewers and the Texas Longhorns. They play Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on Friday, which doubles as one of the semifinals for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
The winner of this game will go on to play either Penn State or Notre Dame in the National Championship Game, so the stakes couldn’t be any higher.
There will be no additional motivation needed for either sideline, but it’s worth noting that Ewers does have a personal history with Ohio State. He actually committed to Ryan Day and the Buckeyes as a five-star quarterback in the 2021 recruiting class. Ewers was the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit and a massive pickup for OSU.
He took a redshirt behind C.J. Stroud and others that season and ultimately transferred to Texas for the opportunity to be head coach Steve Sarkisian’s starting quarterback. That move paid off for both Ewers and Texas, but recently talking to the media, Ewers expressed a sense of gratitude for his time at Ohio State.
“I learned a lot while I was there under Coach Day and then CJ, and just that whole room was awesome to be around, and super thankful for that time that I got to spend there,” Ewers said in a Cotton Bowl news conference (h/t On3). “And, like I said, I learned a whole lot. So I don’t regret any decision I made on going or anything like that. But the main reason I went was, I felt like I had a great relationship with the coaching staff, and, you know, they were winning a lot of games, and I wanted to go be a part of something like that.”
Ewers got a chance to learn at Ohio State and now he has a chance to be a part of a Texas squad that is looking to win the Longhorns’ first National Championship since 2005.
Being from Southlake, Texas, playing for the Longhorns and having this opportunity means a lot for Ewers as well.
“The reason I came back to Texas was one, you know, to be closer to where I’m from, and just closer to the resources that I have, the relationships that I’ve built over time just being from Texas,” he said.
