Glenville QB Cardale Jones and Ohio State find a solution that should work for everyone

Ohio State liked both Cardale Jones and Braxton Miller as quarterbacks and should wind up with both of them.

PD photoGlenville QB Cardale Jones

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Oversigning and grayshirting have become a hotter topic this recruiting season, with more people becoming aware of what has become a common practice at some schools: getting oral commitments from more players than a school has room for, then asking those players to delay their enrollment for a semester. Or a school may force out some current players on the roster to clear some space.

Either of those solutions is in many ways unfair to the recruits and players involved, as Florida's president wrote about grayshirting this week.

But what's happening with Glenville's Cardale Jones could work out well for Ohio State and the quarterback.

Jones said this morning that he'll be a Buckeye but he will attend a prep school in the fall first. That's an actual plan, as opposed to some players who end up treading water for a semester in the fall, waiting for a spot in the next class. Sometimes that can be an easy opportunity for a player to lose his way.

That won't happen with Jones. Running back Carlos Hyde was originally part of Ohio State's 2009 recruiting class, but after failing to qualify academically, he attended prep school, then arrived at Ohio State in January 2010 and joined the Buckeyes' 2010 recruiting class.

If Jones follows a similar path, he would be at Ohio State next January and then be part of Ohio State's 2012 recruiting class. At the very least, that would put Jones a year behind quarterback Braxton Miller, a star of this class and presumably Ohio State's quarterback of the future. If Jones then redshirted in 2012, he would then be two years behind Miller.

For Jones, if Ohio State is the school he truly wanted to play for, this gives him that chance, even though the Buckeyes have one of the best quarterback recruits in the country already in place. For Ohio State, if the Buckeyes like Jones but don't want two quarterbacks in the same class, the creates an opportunity to get in two guys they like in a year in which scholarships are tight.

When schools and players both understand the situation and are up-front about it, there's nothing wrong with a decision like this, especially since Jones received his scholarship offer so late in the process.

It's when a school originally extends a scholarship that a player accepts, and then the school late in the process attempts to put the player off for a year that it becomes a problem.

The Buckeyes obviously like Miller and Jones as quarterback. This could give them both a chance to someday play, and even start, at Ohio State. 
 

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/buckeyeblog/index.ssf/2011/02/glenville_qb_cardale_jones_and.html

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