As Expected, Life is a Little Different Now For Cardale Jones

Tyvis Powell has a little trouble walking around Ohio State's campus nowadays with his roommate. It's too much of a circus. 

That's just the way it goes, though, when your roommate is Cardale Jones — the starting quarterback for the fourth-ranked Buckeyes.

“Cardale’s the freaking man on campus. I’m just that guy now that stands with him," Powell joked Thursday. "I just hope that when he gets big time he doesn’t forget about me.”

It's somewhat fitting Powell and Jones live together. They're both from the Cleveland area and two of the most outgoing, charismatic players on the team. Their personalities are almost identical.

But ever since J.T. Barrett went down for the season with a fractured ankle in the fourth quarter of the Michigan game and Jones became Ohio State's starting quarterback, Powell — the person who is perhaps around him more than anyone — noticed a significant change in his 6-foot-5, 250-pound roommate.

"He’s more focused than he ever was," Powell said. "Usually, Cardale is a jokey-joke type of person, he really doesn’t take too many things too seriously. Basically, he would come to practice, do his thing and get in and get out." 

"But now that everybody is depending on him to be the person to make the throws and run the offense he’s more into watching film, he spends extra time here at the Woody, he throws the ball more when he doesn’t even have to. I would just say that his focus has totally changed."

The results of that change in work ethic were pretty clear on the field, too.

In Ohio State's 59-0 obliteration of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game, Jones was nearly flawless. He completed 12 of his 17 pass attempts for 257 yards and three touchdowns without committing a turnover. As a result, Jones walked away as the game's MVP.

"Definitely unreal," Jones said when asked if he had to pinch himself to realize what was going on. "Like I told my coach leading up to and after the game, it just seems so unreal because looking back at the beginning of the season we weren't even supposed to be in that situation. Losing our quarterback then not having Jeff Heuerman in the rotation for the first couple of games, and then losing another quarterback a game before the Big Ten championship game. It's definitely — it's not real."

It wasn't an easy transition for Jones, though. He came to Ohio State as a "very immature player," according to his head coach. He had the infamous tweet. It wasn't clear Jones would ever see meaningful playing time for the Buckeyes.

It was a long, winding road that has taken a few years for him to figure out.

"It's been a process and he's changed," head coach Urban Meyer said. "Cardale is a great story. It's still in process now and he's not the grown man that he needs to be, but he's getting close." 

Now, he's the starting quarterback for Ohio State and is gearing up for a Jan. 1 date with No. 1-ranked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. This opportunity may have come unexpectedly, but it's reality nonetheless.

As a result, life nowadays is a little bit different for Jones, but he's managed to stay grounded amid all of the hoopla.

"Basically knowing that it's not over," Jones said. "The Big Ten, that's one of our goals around here, but we're chasing a national championship now.”