Glenville quarterback Cardale Jones takes time to decide on Ohio State or Toledo
Bob Fortuna / Plain Dealer Reporter, January 29, 2011
Glenville quarterback Cardale Jones would like to play college football close to home. - (John Kuntz l PD)
Cardale Jones had to make split-second decisions as the starting quarterback for Glenville's high-profile football team, but the senior is taking his time making the biggest decision of his young life.
This weekend, Jones is in the midst of his last official visit in the recruiting process, meeting with Ohio State. He's happy it will all be over Wednesday on National Signing Day when he puts his signature on a letter of intent with either Ohio State or Toledo.
"It's worn on me a lot," Jones (6-6, 225) said Friday afternoon. "Stuff like this, having to give interviews before a basketball game and seeing college coaches at my basketball games. . . . It got to be so much the other day, I broke my cell phone. Just threw it against the wall.
"It was a dumb thing to do, right?"
Understandable because Jones knows the Buckeyes coaches will tell him all the right things, just like the Toledo coaches did when he visited the Rockets last weekend.
Asked how that visit went, Jones simply replied, "Great."
He's learned not to say too much to too many people and speaks in a business-like tone with plenty of "Yes, sirs" and "No, sirs."
In 2009, Jones was 121-of-195 for 2,168 yards, 18 TDs and four interceptions. He also rushed 72 times for 414 yards and seven TDs.
Last season, he was 102-of-159 for 1,689 yards, 22 TDs and four picks. He also rushed 51 times for 226 yards and seven TDs.
Jones, who didn't play quarterback until ninth grade, wants to see the inside view of how the OSU program operates, and the prospective business major will give the academic side special attention. He already knows how the Buckeyes play football since he's been watching them on TV for years.
He also knows OSU has a commitment from Braxton Miller, the highly touted and already much-cherished quarterback from Division I state runner-up Huber Heights Wayne.
Jones also is fully aware, however, that former Tarblooders quarterback Troy Smith committed to the Buckeyes after Massillon's highly heralded signal-caller Justin Zwick gave them his word. Knowing Smith ended up beating out Zwick and winning the Heisman Trophy is the reason Jones isn't intimidated.
"Braxton Miller's very good, but it doesn't bother me he's going to OSU," Jones said. "It's going to be competitive, and I'm going to have to earn a starting spot wherever I go.
"I'm not afraid to compete because that's the attitude we're taught to have at Glenville."
Knowing that Buckeyes starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor has been suspended by the NCAA for the first five games of next season has only whetted Jones' appetite.
"Five games would give me an extra five weeks to show my talent," said Jones. "That's if I go to OSU."
The thought of being grayshirted hasn't deterred Jones, either.
Grayshirting is applied to a prospect who signs a letter of intent in February but doesn't report in the fall. He delays college entry until midyear, and the NCAA five-year clock doesn't start ticking until the player enrolls as a full-time student.
Jones sees it as advantageous.
"Ohio State will have five quarterbacks heading into next season," said Jones. "If I go to a prep school for six months, get more playing time and experience, then enroll at OSU next January, the Buckeyes will have three quarterbacks.
"I haven't looked at any prep schools yet because, right now, I don't know where I'll be going."
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