Mel Kiper: How Quinn Ewers’ NFL Draft stock rose following Texas’ win at Alabama
The impact of Texas‘ 34-24 over Alabama on Saturday was visceral in the college football landscape, as early in the season the Longhorns are now feeling like they’re back ranked as the No. 4 team in the country.
But the impact on the draft stock of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers was also substantial according to ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper Jr., as he spoke with Michael Eaves on ‘Monday Blitz’ about how Ewers’ performance versus the Crimson Tide impacted his NFL future.
“Michael no player was on the hot seat going into this past Saturday more than Quinn Ewers,” Kiper said. “He was I thought underwhelming against Rice, granted three touchdowns, but 0 for 6 on passes over 20 yards.”
Ewers led the Longhorns to wins in Week 1 and Week 2, but the way in which he led Texas to a win versus Alabama on Saturday is what stood out to Kiper.
The former five-star prospect showed why he was ranked the No. 1 quarterback in the nation for the 2021 class according to On3’s Industry Ranking on Saturday, completing 63.2% of his passes for 349 yards and three touchdown passes against the Crimson Tide. And he did so in NFL fashion, making a multitude of throws that surely drew the attention of NFL scouts and evaluators.
“You’ll see it here, in this game the accuracy down the field, the touch down the field as well to [Xavier] Worthy. The fact that he was able to slip and slide, feel the pressure, don’t look at it, feel it. He did it in this football game, he showed it. He lost weight, he got himself in better shape, he showed he’s quicker this year as well,” Kiper explained. “Quinn Ewers to me right now based on the Alabama game, if you can bottle that, if he can gain that measure of consistency that has been lacking, you’re looking at an early to mid first round pick.”
On August 30, Kiper had Ewers ranked as the No. 6 quarterback prospect in the country, but after his showing in Tuscaloosa bumped him up to the No. 4 spot only behind Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and another fast riser on the list Shedeur Sanders.
But Ewers’ Longhorns are currently ranked higher than the teams of all of the quarterbacks ranked above him, which could potentially give him an opportunity to perform on bigger stages than his draft class competition and raise his draft stock even more in the future.
“But it’s gonna be interesting, this is a team that has a chance to be in the final four in the playoffs right? Quinn Ewers if we see that performance week in and week out, he’s gonna be way up there behind Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Shedeur Sanders in that third or fourth spot overall at the quarterback position which would put him in the early to mid first round,” Kiper concluded.