A familiar face may await Ohio State football in the next round of the College Football Playoff

On By Littum

PASADENA, Calif. – Ohio State’s focus is on beating Oregon in Wednesday’s Rose Bowl to keep its season alive, but its reward for doing so would be another story-filled game.

A world exists where a Buckeyes win on New Year’s Day would mean a matchup against OSU’s once highly rated quarterback. The role currently filled by OSU quarterback Will Howard should belong to Quinn Ewers.

A former five-star recruit, Ewers was the prize of a 2022 class after OSU flipped him from Texas as a quarterback who had accomplished a perfect recruitment.

Ewers was supposed to be next after CJ Stroud, but then things went wrong. Ewers emerged earlier than planned thanks to the NIL’s introduction to the 2021 roster as the fourth quarterback behind Stroud, Kyle McCord (now at Syracuse) and Jack Miller. His time in Columbus lasted six months before he returned home.

Ewers has since spent the last three seasons as the Longhorns’ starting quarterback, helping them to back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances. He had thrown for 8,523 yards and 63 touchdowns heading into Wednesday’s 39-31 double-overtime Peach Bowl win over Arizona State.