DALLAS - The morning after Cardale Jones helped Ohio State win a national championship, the talk went right back to where it had gone late the previous night.
What's next for Jones? What's next for Ohio State's quarterback position?
Urban Meyer would prefer to sleep on it. Jones is facing a two-day deadline as Thursday, Jan. 15 is the early-entry deadline for the NFL Draft.
At a Tuesday morning press conference held just before Ohio State was due to fly back to Columbus, Jones said he doesn't think he's ready for the NFL yet but will discuss it with Meyer.
Ohio State has a crowd at quarterback, three players with big-game experience and remaining eligibility. Jones won three starts over Ohio State's last three games and has two years left.
"It's kind of cool to be sitting here and (saying) NFL and then saying Cardale's name," Meyer said. "I will tell you this. He could play in the NFL. He certainly has a talent. Is he ready right now? That's a chat I guess we'll go have at some point, probably not right here in front of everybody."
The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Jones showed off some pretty rare talents during Ohio State's run to the title, but before those three games he'd never played a significant down at Ohio State. NFL scouts would have to go back to 2010-11 -- when Jones was in high school and then did a semester in military school -- to see Jones as a starter for any extended period of time.
"It's very odd," Jones said of his rise. "I've started three games in three years. Guys have had their whole career to build up and have that motivation to play in the NFL."
Redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett, who took over as the starter after Braxton Miller's season-ending shoulder injury last August, was injured in the fourth quarter of the regular-season finale vs. Michigan. Barrett was good enough over 12 games to break the Big Ten single-season touchdown record and finish fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Jones led Ohio State to victories over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and Oregon in his first three starts, throwing at least one touchdown pass in each.
Miller, the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, has another year of eligibility because he was hurt before playing his fourth season. He graduated in December, making him eligible to transfer and play immediately for another program if he chooses that route over the NFL or returning to Ohio State. Miller's father told the Columbus Dispatch last month that his son plans to return to Ohio State.
Jones would need an NCAA waiver to play at a different FBS program in 2015. He'd be immediately eligible at the FCS level.
Last month, Sports Illustrated reported that Jones is a year from getting his degree and that graduating from Ohio State is a priority.
Jones said last week he planned to return Ohio State. Now, he's won a national championship, has been seen by NFL scouts and execs who travel the country looking for physically gifted quarterbacks and has 48 or so hours to make a decision about trying to get paid to play a game he was only playing in blowouts the last two seasons.
"It's a conversation Coach Meyer and I will have, but to me (the NFL) is far out," Jones said.
After Ohio State beat Oregon, Jones said he wasn't closing the door on anything and said he wasn't sure if he'd be willing to return to Ohio State in a backup role.
Further complicating matters, potentially, is that the national championship game was the last at Ohio State for offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tom Herman, who's becoming head coach at the University of Houston.
Meyer and his remaining staff have a heck of a decision to make, and the players involved have decisions of their own.
"At some point I think I'll be ready to comment on it and have that conversation," Meyer said of the quarterbacks. "Right now it's not. We're still reveling in the win and on no sleep, and I want these players to really appreciate it, because I am.
