Jones leaves no doubt in his status; 'I am playing'
COLUMBUS, Ohio – While there are still a couple of weeks until the upcoming Rose Bowl game, it appears that the Buckeyes will not have any players sitting out for Urban Meyer’s final game despite several Ohio State players looking like they might have first-round grades in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Defensive tackle Dre’mont Jones was one player that many people have concerns about. Last season, Denzel Ward sat out the Cotton Bowl game against USC as the trend of college players with high draft grades who are not in the College Football Playoff sitting out continues to gain steam.
Jones left a lot of people in the dark after some cryptic comments on ‘Selection Sunday’ for college football when he told people essentially ‘We’ll see’ regarding his status.
On Wednesday evening he clarified his intentions for the bowl game.
“I'm playing,” Jones said. “Kind of what to finish what I started, kind of built off what we started in the first, in the middle...I mean with everything we've been through I kind of just don't want to leave and just do my own thing just yet because I still have another game to play.”
At that point the college football world did not know that Urban Meyer was set to retire after the bowl game. There is no doubt that Meyer’s players want to send him out the right way with a big win in his first Rose Bowl appearance ever, but that did not have any direct impact on Jones’ decision to play or not to play.
“I was going to play regardless,” Jones added.
That does not mean that anyone should expect to see him in the Scarlet and Gray next season however. Jones still has one year of eligibility left but he has already made his intentions for next season known.
“I'm leaving. It's no secret,” Jones said of his next major decision.
Jones had a decision at the end of last season as a redshirt sophomore to come back or head to the NFL. Many NFL scouts were already very excited about the potential in Jones and would have loved to see him leave school and test at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Jones opted to come back with some unfinished business. The Buckeyes will not have a shot at the national championship this year, but his team did win 12 games (so far) and a Big Ten Championship and have a chance to add a Rose Bowl title to that.
Was it the right decision to come back?
“I think it was a great decision for me to come back,” Jones added. “I kind of proved myself instead of it just being talk or having Nick (Bosa) say or other players say that I'm talented and me not showing it instead of me actually just showing it myself. I feel like I had a successful year.”
The Buckeyes saw firsthand what can happen on a freak play however for a highly rated player in a bowl game, or a meaningless exhibition as some cynics may like to call these games that are not part of the CFP. Jaylon Smith, a linebacker for Notre Dame, was injured on a freak play at the whistle against the Buckeyes in the Fiesta Bowl.
Smith was supposed to be a no-doubt first round pick and he slid to the second round and the No. 34 pick overall by the Dallas Cowboys and for all intents and purposes, had to redshirt his first year in the NFL as he recovered from a serious ACL and LCL injury. He now is a leader on the Cowboys’ defense, but it certainly did cost him a lot of compensation on that first contract slipping into the second round.
Why risk playing in a bowl game?
“People always give the stigma of injuries, but I feel like you can get injured doing anything,” Jones said. “You can get injured walking outside, I can get injured driving home in my car. I can get injured doing anything, so injuries are going to be there. Can't really just avoid that so I'm going to play, I love the game of football so I'm going to play.”
On the flipside, it is one more chance for Jones to really shine and put another great game on tape for the NFL executives to look at in advance of the scouting circuit that will start shortly after the bowl games.
Jones will have a chance to add to his 2018 totals in this final game but going into the Rose Bowl he sits with 8.5 sacks, 13 tackles for loss and three fumble recoveries, one for a touchdown as well as a 28-yard interception return for a touchdown against TCU.