Inside Cardale Jones' New Life as Ohio State's Starting Quarterback

COLUMBUS, Ohio — With the succession of injuries and obstacles that the Ohio State football team has had to overcome this year, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that this has been a storybook season for the Buckeyes thus far. And while it's become cliche to compare sports stories to movie scripts, OSU safety Tyvis Powell doesn't disagree with that notion.

"Twelve" in this case is Buckeyes quarterback Cardale Jones, who finds himself leading Ohio State into the first-ever College Football Playoff only after Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett each went down with season-ending injuries. The situation isn't all that different than Beamen's (played by Jamie Foxx) was in the 1999 cult classic, when the former third-stringer helped lead the fictional Miami Sharks to the fictional Pantheon Cup.

"Isn't it like that?" Powell responded when asked about his cinematic comparison. "We're down to our third-string quarterback and Cardale's going in and making plays like Willie Beamen."

In Any Given Sunday, Beamen is surrounded by newfound fame, not unlike what Jones is currently experiencing in football-crazed Columbus. This is a city where Ohio State's quarterback is the third-most powerful man in town, behind only the Buckeyes' head coach and the mayor—in that order.

Miller saw it firsthand in three seasons as Ohio State's starter and Barrett learned it in the three months that comprised his Heisman-caliber freshman campaign. Jones admitted to being noticed more often when out and about town following his MVP performance in the Big Ten Championship Game two weeks ago but downplayed his new status as a celebrity.

"I'm still the same guy," he insisted.

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Powell, however, wasn't as subtle when it came to talking about how life has changed for Ohio State's new starting quarterback, who also happens to be his roommate.

"Absolutely," Powell answered when asked if Jones has been recognized around campus more in the past two weeks. "Cardale is the freaking man on campus. I'm just that guy now that stands with him. I just hope when he gets big time, he doesn't forget about me."

It might be a little late for that, as buildings around campus are already informally being renamed in Jones' honor, but that doesn't change the fact that the biggest game of his life is a mere two weeks away. Facing top-ranked Alabama, Jones certainly has his work cut out for him, curbing his enthusiasm for his unlikely recent rise.

"It's not like it's going to stop me from preparing for this next game," Jones said.

But the fact that he's even in the position that he's in is somewhat of a victory in and of itself, given where he was a mere two years ago. Best known for an ill-advised and infamous tweet, Jones was once described by head coach Urban Meyer as being on track for a "one-way ticket back to Cleveland."

According to Powell, that notorious tweet was just the result of the playful nature of Jones, the same guy who went through his first two years on campus refusing to clarify whether his name was actually "Cardale" or "Cordale." Back in his prep days at Cleveland Glenville, Jones was frequently confused with teammate Cordale Scott, so he took to adopting the future Illinois wide receiver's first name.

"He just kind of let it stick with him," Powell said. "Cardale's a weird guy, man. He does things where it's like, 'Really Cardale? For what?'"

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But with age has come maturity for Jones, according to Meyer, although Meyer admitted Jones' transformation is not yet complete. Nevertheless, it remains a remarkable turnaround story, given Meyer's doubts that Jones would ever start a game at Ohio State.

"Cardale is a great story. It's still in process now. He's not the grown man that he needs to be, but he's getting close," Meyer said. "The whole 180, I'm not sure I've experienced one like that."

And yet here Jones sits, Ohio State's final hope at capping what's been the unlikeliest of runs toward a national title. It almost seems like a tale that's too layered to make up—except of course, in the movies.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com and recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.