Ewers’ arrival had been expected since he announced earlier this month he would skip his senior season at Southlake Carroll High School in Texas so he could take advantage of product endorsement offers and begin learning the Ohio State offense, but what is next seems to be uncertain.
“I don’t know,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day replied when asked if there was any possibility of Ewers getting into a game this fall.
“It’s a long, long way to January and I guess anything could happen. We’re just going to take it one day at a time and see how everyone is working in that room.”
Ohio State entered the season with three freshmen — redshirts C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller III plus new arrival Kyle McCord — battling to replace Big Ten Player of the Year Justin Fields.
Day has been careful not to give away his thoughts on who might be leading the race, but he acknowledged Monday that Stroud is ahead without naming him the starter yet.
The California native ended last season as the backup and like Miller was a four-star prospect in the class of 2020.
McCord was a five-star in the ‘21 class, as Ewers is now after graduating early.
Before Ewers was officially a member of the team, Day could not comment on him directly, but he perhaps not coincidentally emphasized the importance of the sweat equity the others have put in with their teammates over the summer when he was asked how he would manage the quarterback room.
“I know there’s been a lot of talk in the media, but this is about this team,” Day said on the even of the first preseason practice. “This team has worked hard this summer to create leadership and get ready to play in this first game, so they’re just excited to get back to work tomorrow. I certainly know you’ve got to ask that type of question, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Right now the focus is on this team and practice No. 1 tomorrow.”
Some thoughts from Kevin Wilson on developing this version of the Ohio State offense and how changes in the rules have caused a major shift in what preseason camp is about https://t.co/tSuunNNFQW
— Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) August 16, 2021
Like Ewers, none of the other Ohio State quarterbacks on scholarship have thrown a pass in a college game.
The newest member of the group is considered not just a great prospect but among the best of the best, potentially in the mold of former Clemson signal-caller Trevor Lawrence, for his arm talent.
The three already in the program are all viewed as pass-first quarterbacks who have the ability to run when needed, but none are as athletic as Fields, who is a rookie for the Chicago Bears.
How Ewers stacks up remains to be seen, but the road to playing time figures to be long given how far behind the others he is -- particularly considering all three were also highly-regarded prospects in their own right.
A true freshman starting at Ohio State is not unprecedented, though Ewers is in a unique situation having miss not only spring practice but the start of the preseason.
“We’re very very excited to have him here,” Day said Monday. “He has a tremendous amount of talent and his family are good people. He’s about the right things. I actually offered him in the eighth grade -- it was really pretty neat. I saw him at an early age, kept recruiting him and built that relationship. Obviously, we are very excited he is a Buckeye.”
The other quarterbacks all met with the media on the day before the start of practice — and are not likely to again before game week, if then — but they all said the right things when given the opportunity.
“We’re all brothers,” Stroud said then. “We all love each other.”
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