NEW ORLEANS — At Ohio State’s first Sugar Bowl practice, Cardale Jones did what Cardale Jones does best: He let it rip.
Jones, who was last publicly seen dropping bombs on Wisconsin’s defense in the Big Ten Championship Game, picked up where he left off bright and early Sunday morning at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, tossing deep balls to the team's wide receivers.
After throwing three touchdowns against the Badgers, it would seem clear Jones — at 6-foot-5, 250-pounds and with a rocket launcher for a throwing arm — is a capable gunslinger.
Less certain, however, is how the redshirt sophomore will perform against top-ranked Alabama and how he will handle the glare of a spotlight as bright as the one that comes with playing in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
“He’s a mystery,” said Nick Perry, a senior safety for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama defenders said evaluating Jones, who made his first career-start three weeks ago for the Buckeyes, is an unusual challenge.
“You haven’t seen him play. You haven’t seen his keys and what he likes to do,” junior safety Landon Collins said. “He’s played enough snaps to get a feed on what he likes to do. So, we’re going to have a little touch.”
But it’s not quite enough to fully size Jones up.
Senior linebacker and Springfield, Ohio, native Trey DePriest said: "You can’t really see a lot of what he does on film. That is different, because you can’t really see who you want on film.”
So in a game with high stakes, Nick Saban and his crew seem to have defaulted to a belief that Jones will come out firing like he did against Wisconsin in Indianapolis.
“He put up major numbers,” Collins said, “and I’m looking for him to do the same thing against us.”
Saban, who has praised Jones in recent weeks, offered a similar sentiment Saturday afternoon.
“I think he demonstrated in the Wisconsin game he’s a very capable player and certainly a very good passer," he said, "and they have the skill guys on the back end to make you pay in terms of making explosive plays.”
Added DePriest: “We saw what he did against Wisconsin. How he handled himself, not playing a lot before that and coming into the Big Ten Championship, and showing that type of composure and putting up the numbers that he did, was impressive.”
