The Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Elks are hoping what worked well for Ohio State’s football team in 2014 will work for them in 2022.
Former Ohio State quarterback, J.T. Barrett was slated to play for Edmonton in 2022 but suffered a season-ending injury and was moved to the retired list (per cfl.ca). With Barrett sidelined, the Elks picked up Cardale Jones, another former Ohio State signal-caller.
If this seems familiar, it should. Not only are Barrett and Jones both former Buckeyes but this road has been traveled before.
In 2014, Barrett was Ohio State’s quarterback. He suffered an injury in the team’s regular season finale against Michigan and was replaced by Jones. Jones led the Buckeyes on a 59-0 demolition of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, then to a 42-35 upset win over top-ranked Alabama in the College Football Playoff Semifinal and remained under center for Ohio State’s 42-20 win over Oregon in the National Championship Game.
The obvious parallel did not go unnoticed.
https://twitter.com/lukezim/status/1522690708909568005
Jones has been a real journeyman since leaving the Buckeyes. He was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 2016 NFL Draft but played only one season there before getting traded to the Los Angeles Chargers. Jones remained with the Chargers through 2017 and 2018, though didn’t play a game. After briefly being on the Seattle Seahawks practice squad in 2019, he was released.
In 2020, Jones was under center for the XFL’s DC Defenders, starting five games. That experiment ended when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the league to suspend operations.
Of course, there’s one natural question. If Edmonton is looking to bring in National Championship winning quarterbacks at Ohio State, why stop at Jones?
We can only keep our fingers crossed.