Former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones now deputy sheriff in Ottawa County

ELLISTON - Add deputy sheriff to the many feathers in the cap of former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones.

Jones is perhaps most well-known for his elite three-game stretch as a third-string quarterback thrust into the starting role at a crucial stage of the 2014 season, going on to lead the Buckeyes to the National Championship.

Far less known is that Jones also happens to be an honorary deputy of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office.

“(Cardale) has already made an impact in Ottawa County,” Sheriff Steve Levorchick said. “We’ve become very good friends. I love him like a brother.”

Levorchick swore in Jones as a deputy sheriff of Ottawa County last summer.

“Cardale will be helping us to make sure we have the bond with our young people,” Levorchick said. “They don’t want to hear from a 55-year-old sheriff, but they’ll listen to Cardale.”

Jones, who spoke Friday night at a banquet at Trinity United Church of Christ in Elliston, is going to be fitted for an official Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office uniform.

“When he shows up in a sheriff’s office uniform instead of a football uniform, they’re going to realize cops aren’t necessarily all bad,” Levorchick said. “What a great ambassador to have for the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office.”

While Jones will not be chasing down or plowing over bad guys like he did would-be tacklers in the college football playoffs, his duties as deputy entail functions like this year’s Trinity United Church of Christ Men’s Father-Son Banquet in Elliston, where Jones spoke as an honored special guest on Friday.

Jones, who committed to the Buckeyes as a senior at Cleveland Glenville High School in 2011, entered Ohio State as a freshman in 2012 at the same time Urban Meyer was beginning his first season as head coach in Columbus.

“It was a whole new group of coaches who didn’t know how I was,” Jones said. “I took a backseat role at Ohio State, going into a different situation.”

Following a redshirt season, Jones was set to compete with J. T. Barrett for the backup role to then incoming starter Braxton Miller. Jones said Barrett was excelling both on and off the field and it was looking like his own chances at playing were dwindling at the time.

“I had to look in the mirror and say, ‘This might not be the best thing for me,’” he said.

Jones discussed it with his family and said it was his mother, whom he cites as his biggest inspiration, who reminded him of how when he was a young boy going to Ohio State meant more to him than life itself.

Jones was 10 years old when he watched the Buckeyes win the 2002 National Championship, upsetting the then perennial power Miami Hurricanes. As his mother tells it, he decided then and there he would play for Ohio State.

Now that he was there and having doubts about his playing time, Jones’ mother encouraged him to stick it out and told him all the things he did not want to hear, he said, but probably needed to hear.

Heading into the 2014 season, Miller was out for the year due to a shoulder injury in practice. Barrett moved into the starting role at QB and led the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record before falling to an injury himself in the final game of the regular season against Michigan.

As a third-string at the start of the year, Jones was now center stage heading into what was considered Ohio State’s biggest, toughest game yet — the Big Ten Championship against Wisconsin.

“I finally got my opportunity and I wanted to take advantage of it,” he said.

Jones is often asked how he had so much confidence taking on Wisconsin’s top-ranked defense and leading his team to drop 59 points on them.

“I say, ‘What are they going to do, bench me?’ I was the last quarterback on the roster,” he said with a laugh.

Ohio State’s postseason success snowballed from there. Jones said that game not only built his own confidence, but the whole team’s as well.

As the No. 4 seed in the first-ever College Football Playoff, Ohio State pulled off a thrilling upset victory over No. 1 Alabama and went on to crush No. 2 Oregon to earn the National Championship.

It was the Buckeyes’ first national title since 2002 — the one that sealed Jones’ commitment.

“If I had to use one word to describe my career at Ohio State, I would definitely say rollercoaster,” Jones said.

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