The collegiate career of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers appears to be over. While he has not officially released a statement, in a College GameDay interview with ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Ewers gave a blunt reply when asked if he expected to play college football next year, simply saying, “No, I don’t.”
Ewers started drawing attention in his second year as the starter for the Longhorns, completing 69 percent of his passes for 3,479 yards, 22 touchdowns, and six interceptions and rushing for five more scores. This year, the emergence of sophomore quarterback Arch Manning made it difficult for Ewers to stay on the field.
Manning’s presence combined with some in-season struggles resulted in a bit of a down year for Ewers. Despite the Longhorns reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals, Ewers (3,472 yards, 31 touchdowns, 12 interceptions) was never viewed as a strength on a team that many saw as balanced throughout the roster. At this point, it seems impossible to hold off the advancement of Manning. With the writing on the wall, Ewers doesn’t appear likely to remain in Austin or in college at all.
Following the assumption that Ewers will declare for the draft, it’s hard to determine in which round he’ll fall. The consensus seems to indicate that Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders are the only two passers that are worthy of first-round picks. The importance of the position may push a few fringe players up, though. In rankings from ESPN analysts and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, Ewers is viewed as a fringe top-five quarterback, making it hard to believe that there will be enough need to push him into the first round, though he could hear his name in the middle rounds.
Here are a few more rumors concerning quarterbacks potentially in the 2025 NFL Draft class:
- Penn State’s Drew Allar has been an intriguing quarterback prospect in scouting circles. After being knocked out of the College Football Playoffs in the semifinals, reports seem to indicate that Allar will return to Happy Valley. Per Brugler, though, there were several in the NFL who believed Allar may enter the draft with a strong playoff run. While the Nittany Lions won two games, Allar only completed 54 percent of his passes for 433 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception in three games. There are certainly fans of Allar in the NFL, but it seems they’ll need to consider him for the 2026 NFL Draft as Allar has announced he’s returning for another year at Penn State, per Dane Brugler of The Athletic.
- Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated recently gave us a bit of obvious insight in the Titans‘ upcoming decision with the No. 1 overall draft pick. There’s a clear sense that they can’t move forward with only Will Levis as the gameplan at quarterback. This means that Tennessee will be taking a long, hard look at Ward and Sanders. If they don’t like what they see, Colorado athlete Travis Hunter could fill holes on both sides of the ball, or the team may just trade back and make a pick that they believe matches the value of their draft slot.
Allar is awful. Him being a 1st round contender this year speaks to how trash this class is.
I don’t really follow college. Is next year better (2026)? Is Archie legit? You’re my source for this lol
Arch is legit, and Allar is bad. Allar would be smart to go back and try to improve his reading of defenses, accuracy and anticipation. He’s got talent, but very raw right now.
I think he went back
Arch doesn’t make the QB class good. He is the only one worth a damn, Nico was a true freshman for Tenn so not eligible but still needs work.
Beck wasn’t good and doesn’t project to be that good either.
Hackenburg 2.0
I don’t think he’s awful. He showed a lot of growth this season, and would probably benefit from coming back for another season. He has the size and measurables that NFL scouts love, and if he can improve mentally, he could be a decent NFL prospect. He made a couple bonehead plays, but he also made some pretty solid plays.
Allar doesn’t have it. The truth is plenty of guys have the measurables. People have not shut up about Richardson throwing 60 yards from his knees or whatever. It’s what’s between the QB’s ears that matters. Allar is not a good future NFL QB. At this point I think Ewers isn’t either. He didn’t take advantage of what he had this playoffs. Ward isn’t either. The fact is you need a hyper competitive QB who is smart, makes quick decisions, can lead men, and wants to constantly improve. Without that they will fail vs the NFL QBs with the talent and the hard work.
Based on his uncles’ experiences, it’s probably a decent bet that Arch Manning wants to start two seasons at UT. NFL seems to value experience amongst college QBs, and the success of Daniels, especially compared to the struggles of Richardson, will only reinforce that bias. Arch should stay two seasons as starter.
It also helps that college players get payed now
It might depend on who has the #1 pick, too.
Ewers is awful
I don’t know about “awful”. He’s good, not spectacular. I don’t really think that there’s huge separation between him and presumed first round talents-which isn’t exactly an endorsement of the first round talents.
I’m going to disagree with Ewers being “awful”, too. He has a good arm, and he is accurate when he isn’t trying to force things. He needs more development, though. I also think the system he gets drafted into is going to be extremely important if he is to have success.
Third that on Ewers. He’s not “awful”. He’s obviously got talent. Watch him play. You can see it. He did hold off Arch Manning (when many thought he couldn’t) so that speaks volumes right there. Ewers can throw and run. His big problem is his health. I feel like he gets injured a lot (could just be me). Talent wise I put ewers up there with sanders and ward. That’s not saying much. This QB class is weak.
Very weak class. Alot of starting QBs will go Undrafted this year. Maybe 7 tops get picked all after day 1
@kyle
How is he awful?
I thought allar already said he’s going back
He did. But then he flip-flopped a bit and said he was considering his options (probably based on how he/PSU performed in the playoffs). In other words, he was prepared to cash in if it made sense.
I’m hearing he’s basically a Sixth rounder. I didn’t watch much his tape
Brilliant breakdown from Breer as usual. What a useless tool.
What do you all think about Will Howard? Just looking for opinions.
Kyle McCord will be better than all this garbage.
I like McCord. Not sure where he will land but hopefully you start hearing more about him after the combine (if he has a good one).
@never
Kyle McCord wont be better than ward, manning, or sanders…lol