Before last season, the only thing virtually anybody knew about Ohio State's Cardale Jones was his infamous tweet about not wanting to go to a class, a completely noncontroversial opinion that is shared, at least at times, by almost every undergraduate from Youngstown State to Yale. He was mocked, and even as he rose to stardom after leading Ohio State to a national championship, the question of whether he's here to "play school" has continued to follow him.
If his recent tweets are any indication, he's certainly matured. And it's probably time that we do too.
#TBT still can't believe I tweeted something as stupid as this but hey, we live and we learn, after your religion/ pic.twitter.com/mqCLK2uEHw
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) April 2, 2015
That wasn't all Cardale said today.
faith and family, NOTHING is more important then education #StudentBeforeAthlete
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) April 2, 2015
It's only a lesson if you learned from it
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) April 2, 2015
I hate tweeting something and I have a misspelled word or grammar mistake and someone gotta point it out man you get the message!
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) April 2, 2015
Btw, the quickest way to get block, tweet me "we ain't come here to play school" BLOCKED!!❌
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) April 2, 2015
Jones, of course, literately did come back to play school this season, turning down a chance to declare for the NFL Draft to return for another year at Ohio State, announcing his decision at his old high school.
A quick look through our own Twitter feeds ought to be enough to convince us that we shouldn't judge somebody by their dumbest tweets, especially ones sent early in an undergraduate career. It's great that Jones has grown up and moved from this event, and perhaps it's time the rest of us do too. It's not like there isn't anything else interesting to talk about with Cardale.