An Ohio State spokesperson confirmed Friday evening that Ewers had informed Ohio State he was entering the transfer portal, and he officially appeared in the portal on Friday night.

Ewers’ decision to leave Ohio State was first reported by Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. Per Thamel’s report, Ewers – who is from Southlake, Texas – is expected to consider Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech as potential destinations.

Ewers’ transfer from Ohio State comes before he was even originally scheduled to arrive in Columbus. The five-star quarterback, who was originally the No. 1 overall prospect in the recruiting class of 2022, reclassified into the class of 2021 in order to begin profiting from his name, image and likeness.

That, in turn, gives him the ability to enter the 2024 NFL draft, and Ewers likely would have had to wait at least one more year before seeing significant playing time at Ohio State, as C.J. Stroud is set to return for another season as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback in 2022.

Ewers made his only game appearance as a Buckeye in the final home game of the year against Michigan State, in which he entered the game for the final two plays to hand the ball off. Having taken a redshirt, Ewers will still have four years of collegiate eligibility at his next school.

His departure leaves the Buckeyes with just two returning quarterbacks for next season: Stroud and Kyle McCord. Ohio State will add a third quarterback in January in 2022 four-star quarterback Devin Brown, who committed to the Buckeyes on Wednesday.

Ewers becomes the second Ohio State quarterback to enter the transfer portal this week after Jack Miller announced he was leaving the program on Sunday.

While Ewers arrived at Ohio State as one of the most-hyped quarterback recruits ever, Ryan Day said Ewers had a difficult time acclimating to Ohio State after his reclassification.

“I think he would tell you that it’s been hard for him,” Day said on Sept. 21. “Kind of jumping into this thing during the preseason and then being out for a little bit of a stretch. And so we’re trying to get him as much information as we can, but there’s a lot of catching up to be done there.”

By November, however, Day said that Ewers had gotten more comfortable and earned more reps in practice.

“He’s making progress. I thought coming off of the bye he’s been working hard and getting better,” Day said on Nov. 9. “He’s starting to look more comfortable walking around the facility.”

Now, however, Ewers will be continuing his college football career closer to home, presumably with an eye on competing for a starting job in 2022 rather than competing for the backup job at Ohio State.