Cardale Jones

Cardale Jones (born September 29, 1992) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent.

He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

He started for the Buckeyes during the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship, leading Ohio State to the title.

Jones led the Tarblooders to the OHSAA D-I Championship game in 2009.

While at Glenville, Jones also lettered in basketball and track.

Jones was ranked by Rivals.com as a three-star recruit.

He committed to Ohio State University in October 2011.

Jones redshirted as a freshman and thus did not play, but nevertheless drew controversy when he posted the following on his Twitter account: Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain't come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS The tweet received heavy criticism and Jones was suspended for one game.

The tweet was featured as an example of bad social media behavior in the "Best Practices on Social Media" section of a textbook for "The Ole Miss Experience," a freshman year class at the University of Mississippi.

Jones was sparingly used during his freshman season after red-shirting the 2012 season, playing only 39 snaps, attempting one pass and rushing for 128 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.

In March 2014, head coach Urban Meyer described Jones as a "different guy" who was "making progress in the classroom."

Later, Jones provided context for the tweet: I remember I was in class, and I think I got, like, a B on a [sociology] exam.

It was just something so stupid; of course I didn't feel that way about academics, and I don't. Nobody in this program feels that way, we actually take that stuff very serious around here.

It was just a dumbass thing to do.

I definitely didn't think that would happen.

It was just a stupid thing to do at that time.

It was something where I just got pissed because I studied my ass off.

Entering the 2014 season as a redshirt sophomore, Jones was third on the Buckeyes' depth chart, behind Braxton Miller and J. T. Barrett.

Jones made his first start of his college career in the Big Ten Championship Game in place of J. T. Barrett, who had been injured the prior week versus Michigan.

Jones led the #6 (AP) ranked Buckeyes squad to a 59–0 victory over the #11 ranked Wisconsin Badgers, on the eve of the NCAA football committee's inaugural playoff selection.

Jones was named MVP of the game.

Jones made the second start of his college career, and the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated #1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide 42–35 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl to advance to the College Football Playoff National Championship against the Oregon Ducks.

In the College Football National Championship game, he excelled once again and led the Buckeyes to a 42–20 victory over the Ducks.

Jones recorded 280 all-purpose yards, scoring two touchdowns.

He completed 16 of 23 attempted passes for 242 yards, with one touchdown and one interception and ran for another 38 yards and a touchdown.

The day after winning the National Championship, Jones discussed his future football career.

Jones went on to be the starter for the Buckeyes for the first seven games of the 2015 season.

In a news conference, Jones said that while he did not officially rule out declaring for the 2015 NFL draft, he believes that he is "not ready for that level yet," partly because he has only started in 3 college football games.

Jones confirmed on January 15, 2015, that he would not declare for the 2015 draft, and would stay with Ohio State for at least another year, most probably until he graduated.

After a competition with Barrett that lasted the entire off-season, Jones was named the Buckeyes' starting quarterback immediately before game time in Ohio State's season opener at Virginia Tech.

Both he and Barrett remained listed as co-starters on the depth chart headed into September 12 meeting with Hawaii.

He set career highs in passing yards and completions against Maryland on September 10, 2015, with 21 completions, 291 passing yards, and two passing touchdowns.

After starting the first seven games of the season, he was benched in favor of Barrett.

Jones was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL draft.

He was also a member of the Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks of the NFL, the DC Defenders of the XFL, the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League, and the Massachusetts Pirates of the Indoor Football League.

Jones attended Ginn Academy in Cleveland, Ohio, and played football for Ted Ginn Sr.. at Glenville High School.

Students at Ginn Academy are allowed to play at Glenville High.

After Ohio State's final home game, he announced his intention to enter the 2016 NFL draft.

At the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine, Jones suffered a hamstring injury during his second 40-yard dash attempt, ending his workout prematurely.

Ultimately, on May 7, 2017, Jones graduated from Ohio State with a bachelor's degree in African-American Studies.