"This was the first dose of college football": Quinn Ewers recalls Ohio State stint under Ryan Day before joining Texas

Quinn Ewers sat down with Jon Gruden to reflect on his football journey on Monday. At one point, Ewers opened up about his brief yet impactful time at Ohio State.

"The biggest thing I learned from [CJ Stroud] and Coach Day was, you know, kind of what it took to be a college quarterback," he said. [3:33 onwards] "Kind of what it meant to be who you are for your teammates. This was the first dose of college football I had."

In 2021, Ewers skipped his senior year of high school to enroll early at Ohio State. The reason? Texas law didn’t allow high school athletes to earn NIL money.

“Me and my family had a pretty big opportunity in front of us,” he said.

That opportunity was a reported $1.4 million NIL deal, which is something too big to turn down.

But things didn’t go as planned. While Ewers cashed in on big money, he hardly saw the field. C.J. Stroud won the starting job, and Ewers found himself buried on the depth chart. Still, he doesn’t regret it.

“I wanted to have my support group around me to get the initial part of my career going off in the right direction, and then also being close to the fam, nice beating the home state,” Ewers said.

Eventually, the pull of home brought him back to the CFP-contending Longhorns.

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Jon Gruden clowns Quinn Ewers over TikTok clip

Jon Gruden didn’t hold back when he stumbled upon one of Quinn Ewers’ old TikTok videos during their sit-down.

“What the hell is this?” Gruden asked the Texas QB. [00.08 onwards]

The clip, a leftover from a TikTok trend.

“All the NFL coaches and scouts and all the freaking GMs and owners are gonna see this, man,” Gruden said.

Ewers, clearly caught off guard, laughed it off but admitted he wasn’t expecting it to resurface.

“I should have known. I shouldn’t have let my girlfriend post it,” he said.

He quickly tried to downplay the moment, saying:

“It’s some TikTok trend. I don’t even have TikTok.”

“You gotta delete it, man,” Gruden said.

“They’re gonna love it, man,” Ewers countered. "They’re gonna see some personality."

The moment offered a light break and a peek at Quinn Ewers’ off-field side.