Quinn Ewers was the No. 1 overall prospect in his recruiting class, but he had to wait until the seventh round to hear his name called in the 2025 NFL draft.
13 other quarterbacks including Kyle McCord and Will Howard were drafted before him, but Ewers’ draft wait ended when the Miami Dolphins selected the Texas quarterback, who initially signed with Ohio State out of high school, with the No. 231 overall pick in the seventh round on Saturday.
Ewers is most known around the nation for being a three-year starter for the Texas Longhorns, but he started his college career with the Buckeyes in controversial fashion. The Texas resident was the crown jewel of Ohio State’s 2022 recruiting class, but reclassified to the 2021 class at the last minute. He joined the Buckeyes around a week after they started fall camp in August, a decision that was heavily incentivized by his opportunity to begin making NIL money, which he was not allowed to as a Texas high school football player. Ultimately, Ewers played only two snaps as a Buckeye, both coming at the end of a blowout win over Michigan State, before he transferred to Texas.
Ironically, his final collegiate game came against his old squad, which ended in what every Ohio State fan remembers fondly as the scoop-and-Sawyer as Jack Sawyer – who the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted in the fourth round – sacked his former college roommate to seal a College Football Playoff semifinal win for the Buckeyes.
JACK SAWYER SCOOP-AND-SCORE
— ESPN (@espn) January 11, 2025
Ohio State is one step closer to advancing to the national championship! pic.twitter.com/BPoV5FBRGZ
Years later, Ewers still has fond memories of his time at Ohio State despite leaving after just one year.
“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 at the NFL Combine. “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.”
Ewers was the 14th quarterback to be selected in the 2025 NFL draft, following Miami’s Cam Ward (Titans, No. 1 overall), Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart (Giants, No. 25), Louisville’s Tyler Shough (Saints, No. 40), Alabama’s Jalen Milroe (Seahawks, No. 92), Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel (Browns, No. 94), Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders (Browns, No. 144), Syracuse’s Kyle McCord (Eagles, No. 181), Ohio State’s Will Howard (Steelers, No. 185), Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard (Colts, No. 189), Florida’s Graham Mertz (Texans, No. 197), Montana State’s Tommy Mellott (Raiders, No. 213), North Dakota State’s Cam Miller (Raiders, No. 215) and Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke (49ers, No. 227).
