Ohio State QB commit Quinn Ewers may skip high school senior season to land NIL deals

Southlake Carroll quarterback Quinn Ewers, the No. 1 recruit in the nation, is “leaning” toward skipping his senior season and attending Ohio State, which is where the 5-star prospect is committed to, according to a report Wednesday by Yahoo! Sports.

Neither Ewers nor Carroll coach Riley Dodge immediately responded to messages seeking comment.

According to the report, Ewers would attend college and could sign NIL deals worth nearly $1 million, a practice that is not permissible for high school athletes in Texas. Ewers is expected to make a decision later this week and could graduate early and be eligible for the college season this fall.

In June, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling that found that student athletes who play NCAA sports can make money from their name, image and likeness (NIL).

Ewers, 18, has nearly 23,000 followers on Twitter and another 82,300 followers on Instagram, and his social media following — and therefore marketability — only figures to grow exponentially once he starts at Ohio State.

Mikey Williams, a 17-year-old 5-star junior basketball player from North Carolina, became the first prep player to sign an NIL deal in July. He has 3.2 million followers on Instagram.

However, such deals are not permitted under UIL rules in Texas.

According to Section 441 of the the Texas UIL rule book, to be eligible to play Texas UIL sports you need to be an amateur. Section 441 says you are not amateur if you “(1) received money or other valuable consideration for participating in a UIL sponsored school sport;

“(2) received valuable consideration for allowing his or her name to be used in promoting a product, plan or service related to a UIL sport or contest;

“(3) accepted money or other valuable consideration from school booster club funds for any non-school purpose.”

Ewers quickly jumped on the football scene when he was offered by Ohio State during the summer before his freshman year of high school.

He shined in his first varsity season with Carroll in 2019 as a sophomore, completing 72% of his passes for 4,003 yards and 45 touchdowns. Carroll went 13-1 and reached the state quarterfinals that season and Ewers was named the Star-Telegram offensive player of the year.

Ewers committed to the University of Texas just before his junior season in 2020, but he decommitted in October. Less than a month later he chose the Buckeyes.

Despite an injury that forced him to miss six games last season, Ewers still managed to throw for nearly 2,500 yards and 28 TDs in eight games as the Dragons reached the Class 6A Division 1 state championship game.

The 6-foot-3 QB returned in the playoffs and threw for three TDs against Arlington Martin. A week later, he threw for 450 yards on 90% completion and six TDs in the regional final against Euless Trinity.