Texas Football: Quinn Ewers highest-rated QB commit since Vince Young

The 2022 Texas football recruiting class landed the highest ranked commit for the program on Aug. 14 since the former star QB Vince Young.

There wasn’t much more that the 2022 Texas football recruiting class could do heading into the weekend to change the trajectory of the program than landing a commitment from the nation’s top ranked 2022 high school prospect. On Aug. 14, Texas landed a commitment from the elite five-star Southlake Carroll pro-style quarterback Quinn Ewers. That gives head coach Tom Herman his second commit in the building 2022 recruiting class.

The first commit in the Longhorns 2022 class came last month from the highly touted four-star Lancaster 6-foot-4 and 210 pound wide receiver Phaizon Wilson. That was a solid start to the 2022 class, and really laid the foundation for what was to come heading into this weekend.

Now that Texas has landed both the nation’s top ranked 2022 quarterback prospect, and overall recruit in the nation for that cycle in Ewers, they can really build out an elite class. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 7 in the nation and No. 2 in the Big 12.

The Oklahoma Sooners are the lone program that ranks ahead of the Longhorns in the 2022 Big 12 recruiting rankings. They have two four-star commits in their 2022 class, both who rank among the top 125 high school prospects in the nation.

Although, it shouldn’t be all that long until the Longhorns get enough commits in the 2022 class to pass up the Sooners in the Big 12 class rankings. And this is a building class for Texas that should be able to challenge for another top two or three spot in the national class rankings. As it stands now, head coach Ed Orgeron and the defending National Champion LSU Tigers hold the top spot in the national class rankings for the 2022 cycle.

Landing the commitment of Ewers is something that should help build momentum for a long time on the Forty Acres. This is the type of commitment that will have an impact on the trail for the Longhorns ranging possibly from the 2021 class, though 2023 or 2024.

Ewers is also the highest ranked commitment that Texas landed, not just at quarterback but any position, since the former legendary signal caller Vince Young. The 247Sports recruiting rankings gives both VY and Ewers perfect rankings in their Composite. Texas signed VY as part of their 2002 recruiting class.

They managed to land commitments from their only two perfect rated high school prospects exactly 20 recruiting cycles apart.

Moreover, Ewers is now one of six high school prospects that held perfect 247Sports Composite rankings since that metric began around 20 years ago. The other four are the former South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, Florida State linebacker Ernie Sims, Michigan defensive tackle Rashan Gary, and Ole Miss defensive end Robert Nkemdiche.

The next two highest ranked quarterback commits that Texas landed since the turn of the century included Garrett Gilbert and Chance Mock. But they both barely fit inside the top 30 ranked pro-style quarterbacks of all-time. Considering Ewers has a perfect composite ranking, he is still on another level (despite Gilbert and Mock being ranked as five-star prospects).

The results in the coming months could be special on the recruiting trail for the 2022 Longhorns class. Landing a true program-changing commitment like Ewers is going to have an impact for a long time on and off-the-field on the Forty Acres.