3 best transfer landing spots for Ohio State QB Quinn Ewers

As about the biggest news to happen concerning the NCAA Transfer Portal so far this year for the Texas football program, the Ohio State Buckeyes freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers now intends to potentially leave Columbus. Something that seemed to be a possibility for a couple of months now, Ewers could now be returning home to the state of Texas as he intends to enter the transfer portal heading into the weekend.

Ewers is a one-time Longhorns commit and was a huge piece of the 2022 class at one point in time. In fact, Ewers de-committing from the Longhorns 2022 commit after remaining in the mix for a couple of months last year was largely what seemed to cost former Texas head coach Tom Herman his job back in early January 2021.

Now, it looks like first-year Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will have his official shot to land a commitment from Ewers. Just this time, it will come out of the transfer portal. It is worth noting that the original report from Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports mentioned that Ewers intended to enter the transfer portal, but he wasn’t officially in yet as of the evening of Dec. 3.

Texas football and other landing spots for Ohio State transfer QB Quinn Ewers

It probably won’t take long, though, for Ewers to officially end up in the transfer portal. That will then allow the door to open for programs to get in contact with Ewers to make their pitches to him.

Which programs feel like the best landing spots for Ewers out of the portal heading into the offseason? Here’s a look at three to watch.

Texas A&M

This is about the worst nightmare for the Longhorns, but the Texas A&M Aggies certainly present a viable landing spot for Ewers out of the transfer portal this offseason. One of the best pitches you can make to a player like Ewers out of the transfer portal is immediate playing time, and Texas A&M can certainly offer that.

Texas A&M didn’t have many answers at the quarterback position this year, especially when the former blue-chip recruit and true freshman signal-caller Haynes King was injured and knocked out for the rest of the season. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Zach Calzada had an up and down season, throwing for nearly 2,200 yards, with 17 passing touchdowns, and nine interceptions, so far.

Ewers should definitely feel that he would have a clear path to playing time in College Station if that’s ultimately where he lands out of the transfer portal. He should be able to beat out King and Calzada in an ideal world.

Texas and Texas A&M both pitch similar things in terms of immediate playing time for Ewers out of the portal. There are other connections that the Longhorns obviously have going back in the recruitment of Ewers. But the pitch in terms of what each can offer on the field is similar enough.

Texas A&M is still close to home for the native of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. That is likely going to be a factor for Ewers entering the offseason to get closer to Southlake, TX, and College Station can do that for him.

There is also plenty of momentum rolling on the recruiting trail right now for the Aggies in their 2022 class, especially after landing a commitment from the elite five-star Frisco-Liberty wide receiver Evan Stewart earlier in the week.

Ole Miss

While the Texas Tech Red Raiders were clearly mentioned as a potential top school for Ewers out of the transfer portal, I don’t really think that will be a landing spot he considers too much in the end. There is some momentum right now behind the former Baylor Bears associate head coach and new Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire.

But that’s a tough sell for McGuire to boast Texas Tech compared to some of the other schools that Ewers is likely to consider. One football program that I do think could be an intriguing landing spot for Ewers is the Ole Miss Rebels. If head coach Lane Kiffin stays in Oxford through the offseason, I think Ole Miss could offer an intriguing landing spot for the former elite five-star recruit.

If there is another school that jumps into the mix to appeal to Ewers out of the transfer portal, it would make sense for a well-known offensive-minded head coach like Kiffin to be his pick. Ole Miss just turned the former blue-chip recruit and breakthrough star quarterback Matt Corral into a star this fall that could now be a first-round NFL Draft pick in 2022.

Moreover, it is worth noting that if Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby also stays in Oxford through the offseason (which seems uncertain at this point), then this makes even more sense for Ewers. Lebby was the primary recruiter after Ewers when Ole Miss offered him coming out of Southlake High School. And he and Kiffin proved to be quite the potent duo of offensive minds this season.

The only thing to keep in mind here is the potential transfer that Ole Miss could already get in the former UCF Knights star quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Texas

It feels like the landing spot that definitely makes the most sense for Ewers out of the transfer portal entering the offseason is Texas. Sark and the Longhorns can pretty much offer Ewers all of what he could realistically want out of the transfer portal starting in 2022. Texas is also the dream school for Ewers when he was growing up.

Sark and the Longhorns could have a “sky is the limit” type of potential on offense heading into the 2022 season with the big arm and uber-talented Ewers leading the way. The idea of what Texas could do with an offense led by Ewers, star sophomore running back Bijan Robinson, and the standout wide receiver duo of Xavier Worthy and Jordan Whittington, is mind-boggling.

Coming out of Southlake High School, Ewers did give his first commitment to the Longhorns. But he would eventually flip to Ohio State just a few months later. The coaching instability under Herman last fall caused the 2022 recruiting class for the Longhorns to fall into shambles, with Ewers flipping to Ohio State as part of that tragic narrative.

There are also reported ties that Ewers has to some of the current commits in the Longhorns 2022 class, and top guys they’re going after anyway. It would be ironic too if Ewers were to land with Texas out of the transfer portal, as he would essentially be landing on the Forty Acres when he was originally supposed to anyway as part of the 2022 signing class.