Jones Plays Waiting Game

Glenville QB Cardale Jones looks back on title game, ahead to recruiting process.

The disappointment from his team’s loss in the Division I state championship game was still lingering for Cleveland Glenville quarterback Cardale Jones days later.

“I’ve just been thinking about trying to put it behind us,” Jones said. “We can’t go back and replay that game so I’m really looking forward to next season and just trying to stay focused.”

Admittedly, Jones has a regret or two about that 16-15 state championship game loss to Hilliard Davidson that’s still gnawing away at him.

“I wish I hadn’t gotten off to a slow start,” Jones said. “Basically the whole first half was slow for the whole offense. Bad passes … missed passes.”

Of course Jones felt responsible for his team’s slow start.

“That’s where every play starts,” Jones said. “Being the quarterback, I’ve got the ball in my hands every play.”

Jones, who was coming off of what had to be his best performance of his career in the state semifinal round against Massillon where he passed for 199 yards and ran for 150, needed to become a bigger factor the Tarblooders in the second half against the Wildcats after the the teams played to a scoreless tie in the first 24 minutes.

“I just came out more confident,” said Jones, who had a 98-yard touchdown catch and run by Shane Wynn negated in the first half because of an unnecessary penalty on the Tarblooders behind the play after the ball was already grabbed by the diminutive junior speedster. “I saw how much my team needed me from all the talk in the locker room.”

After Davidson broke the ice in the third quarter when junior Rico Butler broke through the first line of defense on a fourth-and-1 from Glenville’s 29-yard line and raced to the end zone for a touchdown, Glenville scored two third-quarter touchdowns on successive possessions to give the Tarblooders a 15-8 lead. Jones was making plays with his feet (he had a 10-yard TD run on the first scoring drive) and his arm (he has a 2-yard touchdown toss to Nicholas Davis).

And later in the game, Jones seemed to be on his way to putting the game away for the Tarblooders in the fourth quarter to give Cleveland their first-ever public school state champions. Or so it looked that way.

“We had the ball what two times late in the fourth quarter and we didn’t capitalize on either (possession)?” Jones said. “And we had the lead.”

For the game, Jones had 10 carries for 28 yards and a touchdown. He was also 16 of 31 passing for 210 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Jones has obviously taken the loss personally.

“I was really, really disappointed because of the slow start I had,” he said. “And I didn’t finish when we got down to the end.”

He was so close to being the first Tarblooder quarterback to not only lead Glenville to the state championship game, but to win a state title game as well.

“We got so close but it still feels so far,” Jones said. “It will be great to take the team there again.”

Since Pierre Woods first helped Glenville to burst upon the statewide scene, none of the other Glenville signal callers – from Troy Smith to Darius “Superman” Hiley to Ted Ginn Jr. to Jermale Hines to Arvell Nelson to Terrance Owens - have taken their team farther than Jones has.

“It’s really big because no one else took their teams there,” Jones said. “Arvell Nelson, Terrance Owens, Jermale Hines, they never took their teams to a state championship. I was the first. And now it’s ‘Can I do it again?’ ”

Jones, a first-year starter for the Tarblooders this season, is certainly talented enough to help get his team there again next year. After a relatively slow start, individually, to his junior season, Jones was a much better performer in the second half of the campaign.

For the year, he ended up 122 of 197 passing (61.9 percent) for 2,180 yards with 19 touchdowns.

“It was a huge growing experience,” said Jones, who was disciplined against Huber Heights Wayne in week three for missing a practice. “The guys lifted me up through the beginning when I struggled. I struggled so hard the first couple of weeks against St. Ignatius and a little against Reynoldsburg and I didn’t even play that much against Wayne. But they just stayed behind me, they got me focused through the Senate League and I kept my head and it showed up in the playoffs.”

It was a Senate League contest against John F. Kennedy in week nine, however, that was really the maturation point in the whole season for Jones.

“We basically looked past them. We were just looking forward to the playoffs and who we would playing in the first round,” he said. “We went into the half leading 7-0 on a Senate team, never heard of before. But the guys in the locker room were like, ‘Come on Cardale, we got to team up.’ Andre Sturdivant was always telling me, ‘Come on now, it’s your time. Lead us,’ and stuff like that. And we ended up beating them like 35-0 (actually 33-0). That’s where I think I really grew a lot.”

But Jones never let the lofty comparisons to other quarterbacks, like OSU’s Terrelle Pryor for instance, that were starting to surface as the Tarblooders advanced further in the postseason, affect him in any way.

“That didn’t really bother me at all. I wasn’t going to worry about recruiting and that kind of stuff until the end of the season,” Jones said. “I had one thing in mind during the playoffs and that was a state championship and leaving the seniors something to remember me by. Not just me, the whole team. So I really didn’t even look at nothing on the Internet about myself or Glenville and I only read the paper a couple of times about us during the whole playoffs. I just tried to stay focused on winning that state championship.”

And even though, some might argue, Glenville snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Davidson, Jones’ recruiting stock has risen to blue-chip status according to some of the gurus in cyberspace.

“I feel really good about the chance for me to get more scholarship offers and go on visits and just show them my talent more and more,” said Jones, who only claimed to have an offer from Bowling Green at the season’s end. “It’s like everyone knows me now. Like you didn’t know me in week one and now you know me. And it’s a great feeling.”

And the fact that some have compared Jones to Pryor should make the recruiting process very interesting, to say the least, for Jones.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted and it finally came.”

A legitimate 6-5 and 210 pounds, that’s his size listed in the state tournament program, Jones has a rocket for an arm and he can move around very well for his size.

“I’m big, strong, fast, have a strong arm,” said Jones when he was asked to give a self-evaluation of what he feels that he brings to the table at his position. “I’m accurate, smart, physical, a game-changer and a play-maker. That’s about it.”

And, by his own admission, Jones has really come a long way, both mentally and physically, this season.

“I know when and where to throw the ball at now. I know where not to throw the ball at,” Jones said. “I know how to keep the play alive with my legs. And not with just my legs but my arm as well. But if a play is called for my legs, I’ll get it.”

Jones certainly fits the bill if a school is looking for a dual-threat quarterback like Pryor was at Jeannette.

“Terrelle Pryor, first and foremost, is an amazing athlete,” Jones said. “And not just an amazing athlete, he’s an amazing quarterback in my eyes. He can create plays with his legs and his arm. So I think I can be compared to him.”

It’s a bit overwhelming but Jones is certainly OK with it.

“Some of the players on the sideline, when I come to sideline after I make a play with my legs or something, are like ‘Okay TP’ or they’ll call me Vince Young and stuff like that,” Jones said. “It’s an honor.”

And like Pryor, Jones can play a little bit on the hardwood as well.

“I’m taking a break right now but most likely I’m going to play basketball after I get an MRI (knee on Dec. 18),” said Jones, who also played through an injured shoulder he suffered in week one of the season against St. Ignatius on the first offensive play of the season for Glenville. “But with the season just ending last Saturday, it’s still an emotional thing for me right now because I’m not just the first quarterback to lead our team to a state championship, I’m also the first quarterback to lose a state championship.

“So it’s still an emotional time for me every time I see the game and I’m just trying to get my head straight, trying to get over that loss. But I am going to play basketball.”

Although football is his first love, Jones indeed likes to play basketball a lot as well.

“That’s another reason why some of our players call me ‘TP’ because he was a good hooper in high school,” Jones said. “We have a few things in common I guess.”

Pryor however was already a recruiting sensation by the end of his junior season when he too took his team to the state championship and lost. Jones is just starting to become one as schools like Ohio State are starting to take an interest in him now.

“At the top of my list I have to put Ohio State because of the pipeline and I’ve always wanted to be a Buckeye,” Jones said. “My number two might be a shocker but it’s Bowling Green. My number three is Tennessee, number four is Iowa and number five, just because Vince Young is my favorite player, I love Texas.”

So he’s really looking forward to the whole recruiting process.

“I’m expecting a lot of offers and a lot of exposure,” said Jones, who plans on attending the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Combine in San Antonio in January. “And if (the offers) doesn’t come after this year, I don’t know what to say.”

And if Ohio State were to offer, Jones would be all but a Buckeye on the spot.

“I have a lot of interest in Ohio State just because all that I hear about Ohio State. And their offense with the quarterback is a lot like ours,” Jones said. “And my fellow teammates have offers from Ohio State. Like if Christian Bryant and Latwan Anderson committed to Ohio State and then if me and Shane committed to Ohio State the following year, that’s basically almost like our offense is back together.

“And Ohio State has a great tradition of winning and I don’t want to go to college and be a loser.”

Unfortunately Ohio State hasn’t exactly overwhelmed Jones with attention up to this point. He hasn’t even been to a Buckeye game yet. And Jones hasn’t even been to an OSU camp since the summer between his freshman and sophomore seasons. And he hasn’t even spoken with Jim Tressel at all.

“He was at our game against Massillon,” Jones said. “And from the game I had against Massillon, I hope he likes me since then.”

Jones is definitely not afraid of any competition at a school like Ohio State and he’s aware that Wayne’s Braxton Miller has an OSU offer already and he seems to be the one they’re targeting from the class of 2011. But Ohio State is still a school he would love to get an offer from.

“Yeah I hope so,” said Jones who admitted that he would love to have a chance to be a Buckeye. “And I would really like to really show that I am better than Braxton Miller.”

Below we have video of Jones in action in the state championship game, courtesy of ScoutingOhio.com.