Predicting which college football program offered Quinn Ewers $8M in NIL to transfer

By turning pro, Quinn Ewers may have cost himself millions. In the wake of the former Texas starting quarterback announcing his decision to enter the 2025 NFL Draft, there was a report from Horns247 about Ewers being offered $8 million in NIL to transfer to another program. Ewers cited that he only wanted to play college football for Texas, so he decided to enter the draft once that was not possible.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is taking a huge gamble by picking Arch Manning over the more proven Ewers for 2025. I understand that this is Manning's time to shine, but Ewers was the one who got the Longhorns to the College Football Playoff the last two years, and not the other way around. So with that in mind, who do we think was the college football program who offered Ewers $8 million?

Here are the five college football programs that I think could have offered Ewers $8 million in NIL.

• Alabama Crimson Tide
• Georgia Bulldogs
• Michigan State Spartans
• North Carolina Tar Heels
• Oregon Ducks

There are other teams who could have been in play for Ewers. Maybe the team with the strongest offer slips even below the cracks? However, the five teams listed above have both the financial resources and the perceived need to pursue a proven quarterback like Ewers in the transfer portal. I go back and forth over who it might have been, but I am going to whittle it down to make my guess.

So between Alabama, Georgia, Michigan State, North Carolina and Oregon, who offered Ewers $8M?

Figuring out what college football program offered Quinn Ewers $8M

One by one, I am going to cross off each team until I reach my conclusion. Again, this is just an educated guess for the sake of argument. I understand Ewers' decision to turn pro, but $8 million is a lot of money, more than what he will probably make annually on his rookie contract, especially if he does not end up being a first-round pick. He is somewhere between QB3 and QB5 on my big board.

The first team I am going to cross off is Oregon. The Ducks have the financial resources to woo a quarterback of Ewers' caliber. They did it before with Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel, so they could do it again. However, I think the allure of former five-star Dante Moore is too good for the Ducks to make him be the backup for the second year in a row. It was not the offense that let Oregon down either...

The second team I am going to cross off is Georgia. While the Dawgs could have offered Ewers whatever he wanted from an NIL standpoint, I think they really like Gunner Stockton going forward. More importantly, it was revealed that the Dawgs wanted to bring back Carson Beck once he pulled his name from the NFL Draft before transferring to Miami. Simply put, Georgia was a tad preoccupied.

After Oregon and Georgia, I am going to cross off Alabama next. My reasoning for this has everything to do with Kalen DeBoer. Like Kirby Smart, his team beat a Ewers-led offense before. More importantly, DeBoer seems to be sticking his neck out for Austin Mack as next year's starter in the wake of Jalen Milroe turning pro. Alabama should have been a player for him, but DeBoer likes Mack.

And then there were two... Did you think it was going to come down to Michigan State and North Carolina for Ewers' services? I know both schools expressed interest in adding him at various points over the last year, Michigan State first and then North Carolina after Bill Belichick was hired. Michigan State has more money, while North Carolina has the more pressing need as Aidan Chiles is still good.

If I had to pick between Michigan State and North Carolina, I would actually go with the Tar Heels. It is not by much, because I think Michigan State would have it in them to put forth an NIL offer that extravagant. To me, this all comes down to head coach Bill Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi wanting to make a huge splash in their first season together running a college program.

Because neither Michigan State or North Carolina are national title contenders yet, Ewers turned pro.