Quinn Ewers will not be continuing his college career at a third school.
The Texas quarterback has announced he is entering the 2025 NFL Draft after playing three seasons as the Longhorns’ starting quarterback. Ewers transferred to Texas after one season at Ohio State and became Texas’ main quarterback after joining the team.
Ewers made his announcement following Texas’ loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Cotton Bowl. He completed 23 of 39 passes for 283 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in that game. He also fumbled the ball on fourth down with less than three minutes left, after being sacked by Jack Sawyer, who returned the fumble 83 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
For the season, Ewers completed 293 of 445 passes for 2,472 yards, 31 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. His completion percentage and interception rate were higher than in 2023, but he threw nine more touchdowns over two extra games compared to the previous season.
Ewers missed two games this year because of an oblique injury and had missed games in each of the past two seasons due to shoulder injuries.
Ewers could have returned to college for another season since he played only one game at Ohio State in 2021. However, returning to Texas seemed unlikely because of Arch Manning, who is waiting to take over as the team’s quarterback. Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, was the No. 3 quarterback for Texas and redshirted in 2023 before becoming Ewers’ backup and starting two games in 2024 when Ewers was injured.
Manning, a highly rated recruit from the class of 2023, is seen as Texas’ future quarterback. His presence may be part of the reason why a report about Ewers being offered $6 million by another school to stay in college went viral. However, the details of that report have not been confirmed, and Ewers’ decision to go to the NFL could suggest that the offer was not completely true.
Ewers is not expected to be a top pick in the NFL Draft, but his draft stock could rise if he performs well in workouts. The 2025 draft class isn’t considered to be very strong for quarterbacks, and there doesn’t seem to be a clear third choice after Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.
With Ewers moving on to the NFL, Texas can fully focus on starting the Manning era. Manning will be a redshirt sophomore in 2025, with three years of eligibility remaining and the option to enter the NFL as early as 2026.
In nine games in 2024, Manning completed 61 of 90 passes for 939 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions. He also ran 24 times for 100 yards and four touchdowns.
Manning is expected to be a top pick in mock drafts if he has a strong season as a starter. However, as of January 2025, it’s not certain whether Manning would leave for the NFL right away if he has success. He chose Texas knowing that Ewers was the starting quarterback when he arrived.
