Was Cardale Jones Set Up to Fail?

Cardale Jones will begin Saturday’s game on the bench for the first time since last December. Jones has led the Buckeyes to victories in all 10 game he started including a Big Ten Championship, Sugar Bowl Championship, and a National Championship. But after all that, 12 Gauge finds himself back on the bench.

There’s no denying that J.T. Barrett has outplayed Jones the last two weeks. The Big Ten single season touchdown leader reminded everyone why he holds that record. This offense was built for Barrett’s skillset.

Urban Meyer loves duel threat quarterbacks that can run the read option. Just look at who has been under center for Meyer in the past. Alex Smith, Chris Leak, Tim Tebow, and Braxton Miller all thrived in Meyer’s offense. J.T. fits perfectly into that group. In fact as odd as it may sound, Barrett may run Meyer’s offense better then any of his predecessors. That’s saying something considering the talent Meyer has coached at quarterback. So why did Barrett begin the year as the backup?

Meyer believed Jones won the job out of camp. There’s no denying that Jones has superior arm strength and fits the mold of an ideal quarterback. He’s big, strong, and knows how to throw the ball downfield. Jones came in last year and showed everyone why he could be a first round pick in the draft after only three games. How did he go from being a first round pick, to being a backup quarterback so fast?

The offense was completely different last year when Jones filled in for Barrett. Tom Herman and Urban Meyer completely changed the offense to fit Cardale’s unique skillset. They traded out the read option and short passing game for the play action and vertical passing game, and it worked great. Jones and Devin Smith appeared to be a match made in heaven, and Ezekiel Elliott cranked out 200 yard games like it was a normal occurrence.

However, the Buckeyes have gone away from that game plan since Jones was named the starter before the rematch against Virginia Tech. They inserted Jones in as starter, but they game-planned for him like he was Barrett or Braxton Miller. They centered the offense around the quick pass and read options. Neither of those are Jones’ strengths. He struggles with the touch on short passes, he doesn’t know how to efficiently run the read option, and he can’t sell a good screen pass at all. That’s just the way it is. However, those are the exact things that Barrett excels out.

So knowing all that, why would you name Jones the starter, and expect him to run an offense his skills aren’t suited to run? It just doesn’t make sense. Also you’re expecting Jones to run that style of offense while splitting reps with the first team offense.

We also know that J.T. and Cardale are completely opposite people. Barrett is a competitor that isn’t afraid of the challenge. He doesn’t let his emotions get the best of him, and he always has a level head. Jones on the other hand sometimes does let his emotions get the best of him. That isn’t a knock on Jones, that’s just how he is.

Cardale doesn’t have the personality to deal with being pulled after a couple bad plays. That doesn’t make him play better, it makes him play scared. It forces him out of his comfort zone and it forces him to try to be someone he’s not. Jones played his best when he had a clear mind and when he wasn’t afraid to make mistakes. Just look at how he finished up last year and started this year against Virginia Tech. He played with confidence and the results reflected that. But, as soon as the coaching staff pulled him in the second week against Hawaii after a slow start, his confidence was gone.

The combination of Jones playing without confidence and him being asked to run a system that didn’t suit him wasn’t fair to him. It was bound to end like this. There’s no doubt in my mind that Cardale Jones has the skills to be an NFL quarterback. He’s shown it. There’s also no doubt in my mind that Jones is capable of filling in for Barrett like he did last year. But you can’t expect Jones to thrive in a system that constantly has him looking over his shoulder.

J.T. Barrett deserves the shot to start. He’s earned it. The offense will be better with Barrett at the helm. However, we’ll never know how Cardale would’ve done if he would’ve been given the starting job outright and was allowed to run an offense that fit his skillset. We saw what happened last year when he was given that chance.

Next: Barrett named starter by Urban Meyer

Jones isn’t the only one to be blamed for his disappointing season. He was set up to fail.