Cardale Jones was once best known for a tweet saying school didn’t matter. Now he considers his decision to stay in school a great one, even if it cost him millions of dollars.
Jones, who was named quarterback of the DC Defenders XFL team this week, tweeted during his tenure at Ohio State, before he had ever played in a game, that he didn’t see what the point of going to class was since his future was in football.
“Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS,” Jones tweeted during his redshirt freshman year at Ohio State in 2012.
That got Jones in hot water at school, but he eventually became a star at Ohio State, leading them to the national championship after the 2014 season. He was viewed as a potential first-round pick in the 2015 NFL draft, but he chose to return to school. Unfortunately, the 2015 season did not go well for him, as he was benched in favor of JT Barrett. He entered the 2016 draft but fell to the fourth round.
Jones didn’t do much in the NFL, which is why he’s now in the XFL, but he’s standing by his decision to eschew the 2015 draft. After Jones was announced as an XFL player, former NFL wide receiver Antonio Bryant tweeted that Jones is a cautionary tale for young athletes, showing that they should earn money when they can.
Jones, however, disagrees.
“I went back to OSU to finish school,” Jones tweeted. “Something I worked as hard on as my football career. I’m my own man and think for myself. Going back benefited me & my family LONG term. Educate yourself on the situation before commenting and spreading the wrong message.”
After that tweet as a freshman, Jones came to see the value in a college education. And even if his decision to get his degree cost him a lot of money, the degree was worth it to Jones.
