Joe Theismann is a respected voice when it comes to the quarterback position. The former NFL quarterback and high-end television analyst also happens to be a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and, earlier this week, Theismann was asked about Notre Dame's potential use of a two-quarterback system when compared to what Ohio State attempted in 2015 with J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones.
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In the course of his answer, Theismann, well, ripped Barrett and Jones a bit (via ND Insider):
"The guys at Ohio State (in 2015) really couldn't play quarterback. That was their problem," Theismann said. "When you don't have a '1,' you have a couple of 2's, you don't know what you're going to do with them. One becomes a quarterback, and the other you're not sure of. I think that was Urban (Meyer)'s situation.
"You have to look at Urban's history with quarterbacks, too. Tim Tebow was not the best thrower of the football. The guys at Ohio State were just OK. The Notre Dame guys are actually passers. If somebody from Ohio State takes offense to that, I don't care."
Jones was famously the Most Outstanding Player during Ohio State's national title run in 2014 and, prior to that, Barrett was a legitimate Heisman candidate and Big Ten Player of the Year at the position. In short, these are some aggressive comments.
It is undoubtedly true that Jones and Barrett underwhelmed when compared to expectations a season ago, but Theismann's parallel is one that many would simply dismiss out of hand. There have been plenty of whispers about internal turmoil when discussing Ohio State's 2015 squad, but simply saying that Cardale Jones and J.T. "really couldn't play quarterback" seems misguided.
