FC: Top Ohio State recruit Quinn Ewers considering skipping senior HS season…

[Obliviax]

Ewers was already set to enroll in January, so it's not like he was going to have a typical senior year in HS anyway. According to the family, they don't need the money but disagree with law, so they're taking a stand on principle.

CLE paper had some good info on this:

Hey, Buckeye Talk: “How could it work that Ewers would have the necessary credits to graduate and reclassify? Or is this something that he is still in high school technically but is just finishing these classes at a college? Also wasn’t there a QB that went to South Carolina that did the same thing?” — Another subscriber in the 419

Hey Another 419, it’s Nathan: To answer your second question first: Yes, there is a precedent for such moves. While reclassifying is more common in basketball, it happens occasionally in football.

Jake Bentley graduated after his junior year at Opelika (Alabama). His father had been a coach at Auburn, but when he left to coach at South Carolina, Bentley followed. Bentley eventually started at South Carolina, then lost the job to Ryan Hilinksi (now at Northwestern). After one season at Utah, Bentley is now at South Alabama.

JT Daniels also reclassified after his junior season before enrolling at USC. He also ended up transferring and will be Georgia’s returning starter this fall.

According to Yahoo’s Pete Thamel, who broke news that Ewers was “leaning” towards reclassifying, the quarterback can take an online class for his final high school credit. He reported that process could be completed by the start of camp on Tuesday.

 

[Shadow99]

..and the Austin City Schools have applied to play in the Florida Penal League.

Perhaps, but they will be the underdog against Nevada State Penitentiary, you know because they will have no answer for Torque [Construction Noise] Lewith.

 

[lazydave841]

No wonder Day didn't name his starter; he isn't technically on campus yet.

 

[bison13]

What kind of money would be changing hands to get an English course completed in 3 days?

Summer school in Virginia was about 22 teaching days this year and it ended around July 10th. Also, it was remedial only.

Publicity stunt sounds right.

Online courses can be done in 3 days. No writing involved just answering questions and multiple choice quizzes or something.

 

[Thomas1945]

I know that Day is proving to be a pretty good recruiter, and that the BIG bends over backwards to accommodate OSU, but did I miss the press release that allows all these QB’s to be on the field at the same time?

 

[BUFFALO LION]

Ewers was already set to enroll in January, so it's not like he was going to have a typical senior year in HS anyway. According to the family, they don't need the money but disagree with law, so they're taking a stand on principle.

I know it's not the politically correct thing to say, but if I'm a coach, based on your above post, I want nothing to do with this kid. He and his family sound like nothing but trouble if he's not the starter on day one.

 

[PSU Mike]

Why would Texas need to feel pressure from this?

 

[PSULionsDub]

Why would Texas need to feel pressure from this?

The state of Texas will feel pressure because its high school athletes may choose not to play high school sports if they are not able to make money off NIL. High school football is big in Texas and the state and communities would hate to have its players decide not to play high school football over money reasons. Players such as Ewers could decide to skip their senior year of high school in order to get on a college campus and be compensated for NIL.

This type of situation could influence more players to go to the IMG Academy and St. Frances High School boarding-schools, if players are able to earn money off NIL in those states.

 

[Obliviax]

The state of Texas will feel pressure because its high school athletes may choose not to play high school sports if they are not able to make money off NIL. High school football is big in Texas and the state and communities would hate to have its players decide not to play high school football over money reasons. Players such as Ewers could decide to skip their senior year of high school in order to get on a college campus and be compensated for NIL.

The key is that this kid has to have graduated or get his GED to be eligible at tOSU or any other university.

Here in Ohio, lots of kids graduate early from private schools and these newfangled home schooling outfits which were really popular last year and gaining (pandemic). A neighbor has a 16 year old ready to graduate and already scheduled to go to African on a Peace Corp type thingy. He was telling me the local school is trying to convince her to stay back a year because she is a great golfer and they feel she can get all-state status with a good year (which almost certainly qualifies her for a 'ship at a big school". She went to the local public school but opted for this church/homeschool thing when the public school shut down due to covid. She did ~ 2 year's work in one year and got a 4.0.

 

[PSU Mike]

The state of Texas will feel pressure because its high school athletes may choose not to play high school sports if they are not able to make money off NIL. High school football is big in Texas and the state and communities would hate to have its players decide not to play high school football over money reasons. Players such as Ewers could decide to skip their senior year of high school in order to get on a college campus and be compensated for NIL.

So politics? Interesting then. So people that are so gung ho about keeping their sports stars home an extra year, I’m assuming are willing to put a value on that and put their money where their voices are. And then they would be competing with those who will pay to have that kid go to college earlier. Weird dynamics for sure.

It’ll be interesting to see who is willing to pay what for a kid going to a school a handful states away a year later.

 

[PSU Mike]

The key is that this kid has to have graduated or get his GED to be eligible at tOSU or any other university.

Here in Ohio, lots of kids graduate early from private schools and these newfangled home schooling outfits which were really popular last year and gaining (pandemic). A neighbor has a 16 year old ready to graduate and already scheduled to go to African on a Peace Corp type thingy. He was telling me the local school is trying to convince her to stay back a year because she is a great golfer and they feel she can get all-state status with a good year (which almost certainly qualifies her for a 'ship at a big school". She went to the local public school but opted for this church/homeschool thing when the public school shut down due to covid. She did ~ 2 year's work in one year and got a 4.0.

What gets better is when parents hold their kids back in middle school or earlier to get an athletic edge, then turn around and try to spring the kid early to get NIL money sooner.

 

[heckmans]

When would he enroll? no way he can for fall semester. I assume he has some coursework to complete ?

My first thought as well. Would be surprised if he had the core courses to make it through the clearinghouse.

My second thought was that next year, we'd hear about him thinking about foregoing his freshman year at OSU to focus on NIL and the NFL draft in 2024

 

[Art]

My first thought as well. Would be surprised if he had the core courses to make it through the clearinghouse.

My second thought was that next year, we'd hear about him thinking about foregoing his freshman year at OSU to focus on NIL and the NFL draft in 2024

Most decent students have, without much planning, a sufficient number of core courses by the end of their junior year with the exception of a fourth unit of English.

 

[heckmans]

Most decent students have, without much planning, a sufficient number of core courses by the end of their junior year with the exception of a fourth unit of English.

Thanks Art. But as my accountant once told me, "you can't be a little bit married. You either are or you aren't." Your statement says that most decent students would not meet the NCAA core requirements after their Junior year. How would you surmise that young Mr Ewers would:
1. Complete the 4th unit of English in the next month?
2. qualify as a HS graduate.

 

[Art]

Thanks Art. But as my accountant once told me, "you can't be a little bit married. You either are or you aren't." Your statement says that most decent students would not meet the NCAA core requirements after their Junior year. How would you surmise that young Mr Ewers would:
1. Complete the 4th unit of English in the next month?
2. qualify as a HS graduate.

That's not what I said. I have no way of knowing the academic standing of most decent students after their junior years. It doesn't take them much planning to be in a position to meet NCAA requirements. The only exception to that is the fourth unit of English. Not impossible, but it requires some planning.

My understanding is that Ewers is short the fourth unit of English. How does he make it up? There are always ways to remedy academic deficiencies. Just ask Shady McCoy.

 

[osu68]

To enroll at OSU and start making that sweet, sweet NIL money…

View embedded media

The NIL approach now needs some 'tweeking' or the college games as we know them are history. Can't fault the kid for playing by the rules.

Perhaps each kid should have to reimburse the athletic departments for the value of the grants-in-aid first? Is the money 'earned' taxable?

Shakespeare was correct in his thoughts about lawyers !?

As the popular phrase in politics about 'following the money' NIL will really become a 'bigger game' in college sports.


From an OSU site:

Quinn Ewers “Leaning Toward” Skipping Senior Year of High School Football and Attending Ohio State This Fall

Quinn Ewers tells Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel he is “leaning toward” skipping his senior year of high school football and enrolling at Ohio State this fall.

www.elevenwarriors.com

 

[Art]

The NIL approach now needs some 'tweeking' or the college games as we know them are history. Can't fault the kid for playing by the rules.

Perhaps each kid should have to reimburse the athletic departments for the value of the grants-in-aid first? Is the money 'earned' taxable?

Shakespeare was correct in his thoughts about lawyers !?

As the popular phrase in politics about 'following the money' NIL will really become a 'bigger game' in college sports.


From an OSU site:

Quinn Ewers “Leaning Toward” Skipping Senior Year of High School Football and Attending Ohio State This Fall

Quinn Ewers tells Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel he is “leaning toward” skipping his senior year of high school football and enrolling at Ohio State this fall.

www.elevenwarriors.com

Mojney earned through NIL is taxable.

 

[blion72]

Are we headed to a situation where HS players skip their senior year? when the NIL situation started, I never thought it would be relevant for HS players, since they have yet to actually accomplish anything in a CFB uniform. Listening to ESPNU today, they were talking about the Ewers kid graduating this summer and enrolling early at OSU and redshirting. They said there were some HS quarterbacks who might have higher NIL value than the actual QBs in CFB who have accomplishments. could we be on the verge of players just opting out of their senior year in HS, even if they don't graduate early. they could just not play and focus on their NIL value. it would be like players opting out of the bowl games.

we are entering a crazy world.

 

[BEEFZ]

Yep that is definitely something that will happen with elite prospects going forward. Especially those who don’t care about academics.

 

[Dave1649]

Mojney earned through NIL is taxable.

 

[AWS1022]

Are we headed to a situation where HS players skip their senior year? when the NIL situation started, I never thought it would be relevant for HS players, since they have yet to actually accomplish anything in a CFB uniform. Listening to ESPNU today, they were talking about the Ewers kid graduating this summer and enrolling early at OSU and redshirting. They said there were some HS quarterbacks who might have higher NIL value than the actual QBs in CFB who have accomplishments. could we be on the verge of players just opting out of their senior year in HS, even if they don't graduate early. they could just not play and focus on their NIL value. it would be like players opting out of the bowl games.

we are entering a crazy world.

I think we were heading that way anyway….this will just accelerate it.

 

[Hotshoe]

He is officially enrolling early. He's at tOSU and will start practice tomorrow. Crazy.

 

[NittanyIllinois]

He is officially enrolling early. He's at tOSU and will start practice tomorrow. Crazy.

On the one hand, this is probably not what the OSU staff wanted given the obvious roster management challenges. But this is probably the reality of the NIL era.

On the other, their 2021 class is now probably the most insanely loaded of all time. Good problem to have.

Either way, another sign that CFB is accelerating toward something that barely even resembles the game from just 15 years ago. As a traditionalist, I'm not a fan. But momentum in that direction seems irreversible now.

 

[ChiTownLion]

 

[GreggK]

View embedded media

Love this.

 

[lazydave841]

Unless Ewers comes in and wins the job, why would anyone be paying a backup QB big NIL money?

I'm strongly of the opinion that none of the 3 on the roster are lighting things up and Day breathed life into this to potentially get his best possible option on the field.

 

[NittanyIllinois]

Unless Ewers comes in and wins the job, why would anyone be paying a backup QB big NIL money?

I'm strongly of the opinion that none of the 3 on the roster are lighting things up and Day breathed life into this to potentially get his best possible option on the field.

That's not at all the reason for it, per basically all reports. This was 100% about Ewers trying to cash in on NIL opportunities, and supposedly has been in the works for several weeks. Pretty safe bet that the OSU staff wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, but couldn't say "no" lest Ewers flirt with other schools.

A power move by Ewers, no doubt. But now that kids are in the $$$ driver's seat, this will become more common.

 

[BBrown]

He is officially enrolling early. He's at tOSU and will start practice tomorrow. Crazy.

 

[Midnighter2]

Love this.

Me too. Waiting for everyone to jump on him for being selfish and abandoning his teammates.

While probably inevitable, schools and the NCAA could have delayed this free for all by putting together a better compensation package for student athletes. They didn’t - so, it’s Thunderdome.

 

[LionJim]

Me too. Waiting for everyone to jump on him for being selfish and abandoning his teammates.

While probably inevitable, schools and the NCAA could have delayed this free for all by putting together a better compensation package for student athletes. They didn’t - so, it’s Thunderdome.

Lol, a perfect analogy, excellent.

 

[BBrown]

The state of Texas will feel pressure because its high school athletes may choose not to play high school sports if they are not able to make money off NIL. High school football is big in Texas and the state and communities would hate to have its players decide not to play high school football over money reasons. Players such as Ewers could decide to skip their senior year of high school in order to get on a college campus and be compensated for NIL.

This type of situation could influence more players to go to the IMG Academy and St. Frances High School boarding-schools, if players are able to earn money off NIL in those states.

I thought the TX state legislature did approve it?

 

[BBrown]

So politics? Interesting then. So people that are so gung ho about keeping their sports stars home an extra year, I’m assuming are willing to put a value on that and put their money where their voices are. And then they would be competing with those who will pay to have that kid go to college earlier. Weird dynamics for sure.

It’ll be interesting to see who is willing to pay what for a kid going to a school a handful states away a year later.

I don't think thats accurate info anymore about TX...
https://www.natlawreview.com/articl...egislation-to-keep-other-states-nil-arms-race

 

[BBrown]

Me too. Waiting for everyone to jump on him for being selfish and abandoning his teammates.

While probably inevitable, schools and the NCAA could have delayed this free for all by putting together a better compensation package for student athletes. They didn’t - so, it’s Thunderdome.

You lost me at NCAA...

 

[mrmk5110]

Now that Ewers has reportedly enrolled, all eyes will be on how that goes and who will wind up in the portal. At least one of McCord and Miller will wind up in the portal, maybe not now but by the end of the season. If McCord goes into the portal I would have to think Franklin will pull all the stops to get him to transfer to PSU.

 

[PSUSignore]

Are we headed to a situation where HS players skip their senior year? when the NIL situation started, I never thought it would be relevant for HS players, since they have yet to actually accomplish anything in a CFB uniform. Listening to ESPNU today, they were talking about the Ewers kid graduating this summer and enrolling early at OSU and redshirting. They said there were some HS quarterbacks who might have higher NIL value than the actual QBs in CFB who have accomplishments. could we be on the verge of players just opting out of their senior year in HS, even if they don't graduate early. they could just not play and focus on their NIL value. it would be like players opting out of the bowl games.

we are entering a crazy world.

These rule changes always have some unpredictable and unintended consequences. The Ewers situation is one example that I doubt was heavily considered.

 

[PearlSUJam]

 

[Midnighter2]

You lost me at NCAA...

I mean - the NCAA did it for over 100 years; they blew up their credibility by trying to maintain the status quo instead of figuring out a way to get the players ‘something’ to keep them happy.

 

[PSUSignore]

Unless Ewers comes in and wins the job, why would anyone be paying a backup QB big NIL money?

I'm strongly of the opinion that none of the 3 on the roster are lighting things up and Day breathed life into this to potentially get his best possible option on the field.

Think about it less from a football program perspective and more from the kid's financial perspective. There are kids these days that develop huge social media followings, which can be monetized. People will pay a kid that has a ton of eyeballs on his social media posts, regardless if he's a starter or riding the bench. From an advertising and promotion perspective a benchwarmer with millions of followers is worth more than the best player in all of football with 100 followers. Of course there's likely to be a lot of correlation between player performance and how many followers they have, but not always. Take Spice Adams for example. He has a huge social media presence and certainly wasn't a stud on the field but he found his niche, had the right personality for it, and he has taken advantage of it.

I'm not sure if Ewers already has a large following, but if so, getting additional exposure by getting to and associating with OSU likely will only expand his social media reach, adding to the monetizing opportunities. Additionally according to some earlier posts it seems Texas has some laws that might be keeping him from maximizing his earnings so he may have some incentive to get out of Texas ASAP. This doesn't have to be a case of OSU's program luring him in with the promise of NIL money, it could be the kid seeing a way to accelerate monetizing an online presence and brand that he's already started to build, but can take it further more quickly by getting to OSU as quickly as possible. If he has completed the coursework and OSU has the flexibility to bring him in early it could be mutually beneficial, assuming OSU wants him to enroll now.

 

[BBrown]

I mean - the NCAA did it for over 100 years; they blew up their credibility by trying to maintain the status quo instead of figuring out a way to get the players ‘something’ to keep them happy.

+1. While the NIL thing may have surprised some, it certainly should not have come as a surprise to any one at the NCAA.
But then like I said. NCAA. 🤮

 

[PSUSignore]

I mean - the NCAA did it for over 100 years; they blew up their credibility by trying to maintain the status quo instead of figuring out a way to get the players ‘something’ to keep them happy.

I'm not sure it would have mattered in the end. Giving the players anything less than they felt they were entitled to would have reached this point eventually anyway. Yes the NCAA sucks but I'm not sure how anyone could have stopped this train once the lawyers and players figured out what they were missing out on. I can somewhat understand the perspective of the NCAA. This opens the door for a lot of things that are going to be impossible to regulate, so the NCAA tried to be strict and keep things black and white where they could be monitored and regulated (ignoring their wildly inconsistent enforcement which is a different problem). Now it's the wild west. Between NIL, playoff expansion, conference realignment and transfers I suspect in 5-10 years we aren't going to recognize this sport anymore.