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2022 No. 1 QB Quinn Ewers decommits from Texas

The Southlake Carroll product says he wants to more fully explore the recruiting process.

Quinn Ewers
247Sports

One of the biggest quarterback pledges of the modern recruiting era for the Texas Longhorns is now a former pledge, as 2022 Southlake Carroll quarterback Quinn Ewers announced his decommitment on Wednesday in a crushing development for head coach Tom Herman’s program.

The commitment from Ewers in mid-August sent shockwaves through the college football landscape — at the time, he was ranked as the top prospect in the 2022 recruiting class and possessed a rare perfect rating from 247Sports. Ewers has now dropped to No. 2 in the rankings and lost his perfect rankings, but he’s still the top pro-style quarterback in the class.

Assuming that Ewers doesn’t decide to re-commit to Texas after further exploring the recruiting process — a relatively rare decision — the Longhorns will suffer from the loss significantly in the 2022 class. With Ewers in the fold, Texas was expected to sign a top class.

The impact of taking the pledge from Ewers also hit the 2021 Longhorns class in a negative way, as the quarterback pledge in that class, Jalen Milroe of Katy Tompkins, a top-100 prospect and the No. 4 dual-threat quarterback, flipped to the Crimson Tide. Texas subsequently flipped Austin High product Charles Wright from Iowa State, but there is a significant dropoff in the rankings because Wright isn’t ranked among the top 1,000 prospects nationally and sits at No. 40 among pro-style quarterbacks, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

There’s also a concern about whether Ewers made the decision to decommit because of his perception of how the long-term future looks for Texas under Herman after the disappointing 3-3 start to the 2020 season — such a vote of no confidence could reverberate on the recruiting trail with the Longhorns already struggling to finish the 2021 class.

And, of course, that long-term future now looks significantly different with the loss of a potentially generational quarterback to lead it.

It’s a dark night on the Forty Acres.