Over the past few weeks the college athletic landscape has shifted drastically, with the NCAA clearing the way for athletes to be compensated by selling their “name, image and likeness.” That has led to endorsement deals for college athletes in a number of sports, and at various levels of play.

The latest decision made by an athlete will just keep those shockwaves reverberating.

Quinn Ewers, a five-start quarterback recruit entering his senior high school season, announced on Monday that he was forgoing his final high school season and enrolling early at Ohio State. Ewers announced the decision on social media:

pic.twitter.com/h90YtDa15K

— Quinn Ewers (@QuinnEwers) August 2, 2021

As stated, Ewers still has one final class to complete before getting his degree, and he is in the process of finishing that course. That will enable him to reclassify as a 2021 recruit and enter Ohio State a year ahead of schedule.

That will also drop Ewers, who was viewed as the top-ranked recruit in the 2022 class, into an incredibly talented QB room with the Buckeyes. He’ll join redshirt freshman C.J. Stroud, who was graded as the #2 QB in the 2020 recruiting class by 247Sports.com, and true freshman Kyle McCord, who was the fifth-ranked quarterback in the 2021 recruiting class.

What might have been a driver behind Ewers’ decision was the NIL changes made at the NCAA level. Texas, where Ewers plays high school, is not allowing high school athletes to be compensated under NIL laws. That led some to believe that by returning to school, Ewers was passing up potentially seven figures in NIL income by playing his final high school season.

Now, by enrolling early at Ohio State Ewers can put his huge social media following to use.

And maybe win a starting job earlier than expected.

That might be the toughest challenge for Ewers, given that he is joining the team late and both Stroud and McCord have the benefit of spring football — or more in Stroud’s case — under their belts. Still, with his talented right arm, Ewers will make things interesting later this month in Columbus.