COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Cardale Jones wore camoflauge spandex under his uniform on the first day of Ohio State's spring practice last week.
It was a convenient decision, not a strategic one.
These days, Jones isn't blending in anywhere. It's easy to see Jones as the most interesting man in college football -- even as he competes for the starting quarterback's job on his own team. He's a fan favorite, an NFL prospect, a national champion, a social media darling and yet still very much a work in progress.
On Jan. 12 in Dallas, he helpd Ohio State to college football's mountaintop. He might not be anywhere close to seeing the ceiling.
"He's still raw, almost a rookie," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. "He's an older rookie, but he became a more functional player as he got all of the reps during the bowl season and playoff run."
It was a run for the ages, and Jones said all of it "still hasn't really sunk in." In five weeks starting last December, Jones went from never having started a game to 3-0 in trophy games, and from there to making an NFL decision and taking a week at home in Cleveland to let it all soak it in before going back to classes and what used to be a low-key life in Columbus.
"The first week back in classes on campus was wild," Jones said. "It was hard to pay attention in class for the other students, because they were staring me up and down. It's pretty cool."
It's pretty different, too. There's a lot of Jones for those gawking students to see -- at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, he's been compared to Ben Roethlisberger and Daunte Culpepper -- but before J.T. Barrett got hurt in the Michigan game Nov. 29, Jones was just a backup, a redshirt sophomore who'd once been suspended by Meyer for tweeting that he "didn't come to play school."
He's come a long way with his Twitter account, too. He had about 17,000 followers when he took his first significant snap for Ohio State in the fourth quarter of the Michigan game after Barrett's injury.
He had more than 153,000 followers as of Tuesday afternoon. He tweets about everything from practice to volunteering at a soup kitchen to standing in line at Chipotle. He gets mobbed in public -- whether he's at the mall, a high school basketball game or somewhere else -- and stays around to shake every hand and sign every autograph.
His Twitter profile reads: Just Some Guy Trying To Make It On His Own #StayHumble.
Jones split reps with Barrett last spring because Miller was injured; last July, Meyer said Jones was ahead in the battle to be the backup. But everything changed when Miller got hurt in August, and Meyer and then-offensive coordinator Tom Herman crammed to get Barrett ready for the season, and Barrett went on to finish fifth in the Heisman voting and lead the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record.
With just a week to prepare following Barrett's injury, Jones threw for 257 yards and three touchdown passes in a 59-0 rout of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. He threw for 243 yards and a touchdown and threw multiple Alabama defenders off of him in the Sugar Bowl, then threw for 242 yards and one touchdown and ran for another in the national title game vs. Oregon.
Not bad for a rookie.
"I definitely don't feel like a veteran," Jones said. "I haven't been through a full season. I've played like 400, maybe 500 snaps overall in my career. I understand what (Meyer) is saying from that standpoint. I didn't do anything on my own during those three games."
This spring, Miller and Barrett are on their own rehab regimens. Jones is still learning and working to perfect basics. He's developing a relationship with new quarterbacks coach and co-coordinator Tim Beck, and on the field he said he's focused on "fundamentals, footwork, not using so much arm all the time on all my throws. Just leading my guys the right way."
Jones said in January it was a "simple" decision to come back to school, but one NFL executive told FOXSportsOhio.com that his team was informed at one point in the three days between the national title game and the NFL's early-entry deadline that Jones would enter the draft. Another exec guessed that Jones could have gone "in the first 10 or 12 picks" in this year's draft.
Instead, he's trying be a better player every week -- and trying to be Ohio State's starter in September. Miller was a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year in this offense. Barrett set a conference record for touchdowns in a single season. Jones came in and kept the Buckeyes rolling, and his feeling that his life has been on fast-forward since is a byproduct of that.
"It's a lot different," he said. "It's just more responsibility, being aware of my surroundings and understanding that any and everything is going to blow up. I'm just watching myself more.
"It's just that everyone knows you."
Meyer admitted he's never encountered a situation like this one at such an important position. Beck said he "loves" what he sees from Jones as a worker and a student but admits "he needs a ton of reps." Neither have said much about the competition or how it may play out, and Jones admitted it's "weird."
Could a quarterback really go from winning a national title to the bench?
Could a quarterback really go from third-stringer to winning the national title to having 48 hours to tell the NFL that the money and further fame and scrutiny can wait? Jones did.
"I want to set myself up for life after football," Jones said last week. "If I would have decided to go to the NFL or next year however that may play out, you only get a couple of years. If you play four to five or 10 to 12 (years), you're still a young man. You've still got a lot of life to live. Without that education, I don't think you can be as successful."
Ohio State is the likely preseason No. 1, with goals again extending into January. Jones is on track to graduate in December and hopes to be the starter in September.
Stay tuned. This story might eventually really get good.
