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On January 16, 2021, Southlake Carroll and Austin Westlake met in the UIL 6A Division I football state championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Under center for Carroll was the No. 1-ranked high school prospect in the nation, Quinn Ewers. For Westlake, five-star quarterback Cade Klubnik was at the helm. Less than four years later, they now meet again, this time on an even bigger stage under much different circumstances. Let’s unpack Ewers and Klubnik’s history before their College Football Playoff (CFP) matchup in Austin.
October 2020: Ewers Flips from Texas to Ohio State
Heading into his junior season at Southlake Carroll, Ewers was committed to play football at the University of Texas, which he said was a dream come true. Things changed, however. Longhorns head coach Tom Herman was struggling to meet the school’s championship expectations, causing his future there to come into question.
On October 28, 2020, Ewers announced he was decommitting from Texas and shortly thereafter committed to The Ohio State University. This left a bad taste in the mouths of the Longhorns faithful, as they’d just lost the top recruit in the 2022 class. Ewers was also expected to make north of $1 million in NIL marketing endorsements.
January 16, 2021: Ewers faces 5-star uncommitted Cade Klubnik in the state championship game
It all came down to one final showdown. Ewers’ Carroll team was on an 11-game win streak and had just beaten Dallas powerhouse Duncanville High School in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Klubnik’s Westlake was undefeated at 13-0 and had taken down Houston’s North Shore High School, the defending Division I state champs.
Two of the best quarterbacks in Texas – one beloved in Austin and one with some hard feelings.
Klubnik got the better of Ewers in this one, as Westlake won the title by a score of 52-34. It could be argued that Ewers outplayed Klubnik, throwing for 351 yards and three touchdowns, but Carroll had no answer for Westlake’s rushing attack, as the Chaparrals picked up 295 yards on the ground.
February 2021: Klubnik’s recruiting heats up
Following his state championship win, Klubnik was still uncommitted, but a decision was expected soon. He had in-state offers to two schools that most young Texans would commit to in a heartbeat: Texas and Texas A&M. In addition, his parents were former Aggies, and he was living in the Longhorns’ backyard. But there was something, or rather someone, holding Klubnik back: Dabo Swinney.
During this time, Clemson had its priorities set on a 5-star quarterback from Tennessee named Ty Simpson, but the more Swinney talked to Klubnik, the more he started to feel that he was the Tigers’ future quarterback. A 2023 ESPN article quoted Swinney as saying, “This is weird, right? We have this chance to get this great QB tomorrow, but I don’t know. I really like Klubnik.”
Well, as much as Klubnik wanted to be a Tiger and Swinney wanted him, things all fell into place when Simpson instead committed to Alabama. Swinney promptly offered Klubnik a scholarship, and he committed shortly thereafter, leaving Longhorns and Aggies fans scratching their heads.
August 2021: Ewers announces he’s skipping his senior season to enroll at Ohio State
Heading into Ewers’ senior year coming off an appearance in the state title game, it was now championship or bust for Southlake Carroll. But a change in rules made on July 1 derailed that destiny. A batch of state laws and new NCAA regulations allowed college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL) without punishment.
Ewers, being the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2022, was set for a payday. Unfortunately, he would have to wait to receive any NIL deals until he hit the Ohio State campus, so he decided to forgo his senior year with the Dragons and head to college early. This didn’t come without criticism, as some felt he was quitting on his high school teammates for money. Ewers went on to sign a $1.4 million NIL deal with GT Sports Marketing for three years.
December 2021: Ewers leaves Ohio State, and commits to Texas
Ewers went to Ohio State early and was on the team for only one semester before entering the transfer portal. So his time there, while profitable, was disappointing, to say the least. Ewers played only two snaps for the Buckeyes.
Following Ohio State’s final regular-season game on Nov. 27, Ewers entered the transfer portal in early December. On Dec. 12, he committed to Texas. In a spring press conference after joining the Longhorns, he stated that being closer to his family was a big part of the move, and he felt he was always meant to be a Longhorn. Also, Ohio State had a jam-packed quarterback room with future NFL star C.J. Stroud starting, and the No. 3-ranked quarterback in the 2021 class, Kyle McCord, backing him up.
Got our first chance to talk with new Texas QB Quinn Ewers this morning pic.twitter.com/m3TQldWQGt
— Travis Recek (@TravisRecek) April 14, 2022
August 2022: Ewers and Klubnik begin college football careers
Throughout Ewers’ roller-coaster freshman year, Klubnik was finishing his high-school career at Westlake. And he did so in style, leading the Chaparrals to their second consecutive state title, this time in 6A Division II. He threw four touchdown passes in the championship against Denton-Guyer. That following summer, Ewers was in Austin, ready to take the reins, as Klubnik headed to Clemson.
Ewers made an immediate impact with the Longhorns, becoming their starting quarterback and the new face of the program. On the other hand, Klubnik sat most of the year behind former 5-star quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, but showed flashes of stardom that let everyone at Clemson know he was their quarterback of the future.
December 7, 2024: Ewers and Klubnik play in the SEC and ACC conference championship games
Fast forward two years, and Ewers and Klubnik are two of the best quarterbacks in college football. Heading into their playoff matchup, Ewers has 8,321 career passing yards and 69 total touchdowns. Klubnik boasts 6,844 career pass yards, 779 rushing yards and 67 total touchdowns, most impressively throwing 33 scoring passes and only five interceptions in 2024.
After the regular season ended, Texas sat atop the SEC with a trip to the conference championship against Georgia on the way, while Clemson was second in the ACC and set to face Dallas’ SMU for the ACC crown. The Longhorns were on their way to the CFP win or lose, but the Tigers needed a win to give themselves a chance. Texas fell to Georgia in overtime, which gave the Bulldogs a first-round bye and handed the Longhorns the fifth seed. Meanwhile, Klubnik threw four touchdowns in a huge win for Clemson to secure the final spot (12th seed) in the CFP.
The matchup is set, Texas vs. Clemson in Austin.
December 21, 2024: Ewers and Klubnik to meet again in the college playoffs
What a showdown this is going to be. Klubnik is back in his hometown opposing the quarterback he beat four years earlier in the Texas high school state championship game. To up the ante even more, several of Klubnik’s high school teammates are on this Texas roster, including defensive back Michael Taaffe and offensive lineman Connor Robertson.
It will be interesting to see if Austin has any animus toward Klubnik. He brought multiple high-school championships to the city, but passed up playing in his hometown for Clemson. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was even surprised to see him go to the Tigers when he signed, admitting in a press conference following the matchup announcement that he was a big fan of Klubnik.
“We recruited him hard. Obviously, local kid,” Sarkisian said, adding, “thought we were the hometown team, and he had always had a dream of going to Clemson.”
Clearly, Texas has done fine without him, as the Horns are 11-point favorites. The final question is, who’s going to get the last laugh between Klubnik and Ewers? Then again, is this even their last matchup? Both are expected to enter the NFL draft, if not after this season, then next.
You can watch Quinn Ewers and Texas host Cade Klubnik and Clemson on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 1 p.m. on TNT.
