PLAY CARD'S RIGHT
QB journey hard for even him to believe
DALLAS — Cardale Jones wakes up and most mornings it feels as if he just awoke from a dream.
Is he really preparing for the national championship game? Did he really beat No. 1 Alabama on New Year’s Day?
He pinches himself, but nothing happens.
“I can’t pinch myself any harder, so I guess I won’t wake up,” Jones said this weekend, in advance of Monday night’s championship game against Oregon. “I mean, this is unreal, man. This is like a frigging movie or a book.”
Jones, a 6foot5, 250pound specimen some have compared with Cam Newton, has come a long way in a short period of time, from the team’s thirdstring quarterback who was best known for his inconsistent work ethic and a tweet about school being “pointless,” to one win shy of being arguably the greatest ragstoriches story in college football history.
His fame has intensified so much over the last five weeks he has had to block phone calls from everyone besides his mother, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and offensive coordinator Tom Herman, a sign of his maturity that was previously lacking.
“That’s one of the great stories in college football and one of the great stories I’ve witnessed,” Meyer said. “Like I’ve told people, of all the things that my children learn in school, I want them to read about the case study of Cardale Jones.”
Jones was pressed into duty Nov. 29, in the Michigan game when J.T. Barrett fractured his right ankle. He hasn’t looked back, looking like an experienced vet under center, not a wetbehindtheears backup.
In two starts, in the Big Ten championship game and Sugar Bowl, he has thrown for 618 yards, six touchdowns and just one interception. He even showed his legs can be a factor in the Sugar Bowl, running for 43 yards and scrambling in the pocket to create extra time. Here’s the big stat: Ohio State has scored 101 points in his two starts, against formidable foes Alabama and Wisconsin. Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban praised Jones afterward, saying he added a new dimension — the deep ball — to the Ohio State attack.
“Everybody sees him as a twogame starter,” Herman said. “But when Cardale came to Ohio State, this is fully what he expected to be.
Jones, indeed, was a highly ranked prospect coming out of Glenville High School in Cleveland, the 12thranked quarterback in the country, according to Rivals.com. He actually beat out Barrett to be Braxton Miller’s backup in the spring, but a subpar summer dropped him on the depth chart. Barrett got the call when Miller went down with a torn right labrum and proceeded to take full advantage of his opportunity, finishing fifth in the Heisman voting.
Jones’ biggest challenge comes Monday, when Ohio State meets Oregon and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota with everything at stake at Jerry Jones’ palace in Arlington, Texas.
Even if Ohio State prevails and wins its first national championship since 2002, odds are Cardale Jones will return to his role as backup. Barrett will be back next year and Miller may be there, too. Jones said he won’t transfer and his mind won’t change.
But right now, next year isn’t on his mind — he has a championship to win.
“The best way I can describe that is basically just unreal,” Jones said.