Ohio State’s third-string quarterback Cardale Jones found himself as Ohio State’s starter after season ending injuries to preseason Heisman hopeful Braxton Miller and his backup and eventual Heisman candidate J.T. Barrett. The 250-pound third-year sophomore has taken the college football world by storm after making three marvelous starts that included a Big Ten title, a Sugar Bowl title and a dominating performance over Oregon in the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship.

Jones used Twitter to stir up a small media frenzy saying he was going to announce a “life-changing decision” on Thursday which seemed all but a foregone conclusion he was leaving the Big Ten and heading to the NFL.

“It was very easy for me,” Cardale Jones said as he stood at the podium in the gym of the Ginn Academy, his former high school, regarding his decision to not pursue the NFL this year.

This is the same guy who received plenty of negative attention for a tweet in October, 2012, denouncing going to class.

“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.

Football Insiders’ columnists Bo Marchionte and managing editor Charlie Bernstein debate whether Jones made the right decision in returning to school.

Bo Marchionte explains why Jones made the right move staying in school. 

If Jones had an entire season in his portfolio for the NFL to peruse, he would be finding which top talent agency to represent him. The minuscule sample size of his talents hampered his value and that forced him to return to Ohio State. His heart likely wanted the NFL, but his head told him his chances are better returning to college football. It should not be hard for Jones to duplicate his production next season while building a resume for NFL teams to devour and digest.

Usually the formula is – Eligibility + Talent = NFL.

Jones’ case isn’t like any other we have seen. For Jones, the formula is jaded just a bit because it is divided by experience.

“After three games, (the NFL) was out of the question,” Jones said.

He isn’t going to slip much because in reality his stock can only go up. Only a catastrophic event on or off the field could derail him from increasing his value. The Buckeyes’ look locked and loaded to be one of the elite programs in the country next season. Jones, in all likelihood will be vying for another championship, his first Heisman Trophy and being the top quarterback drafted in 2016.

Charlie Bernstein believes Jones made a mistake

Cardale Jones should have made an announcement that he was entering the NFL Draft instead of announcing that he was coming back.  The reason for this is that Jones has more leverage leaving Columbus than staying there.

Bo makes the case that Jones has a small sample size for NFL scouts and executives to look at.  This is certainly a true statement, but not necessarily a bad thing for Jones.  He has just three games of film for scouts to look at, but they’re all great games.

A common question from scouts to prospects is, “what games did you perform best?”

Cardale Jones might be the only player in the history of the draft to give an honest answer of, “all of them.”

Nobody really knows where Cardale would have been selected in the 2015 NFL Draft, but after watching Monday night’s National Championship Game with NFL scouts and former executives, the consensus opinion was “first round.”

That was without Cardale’s workouts which are guaranteed to be jaw dropping.  The young man is believed to be able to throw a football up to 85 yards as he displays a world class arm with great size and mobility.

Sure, Jones can possibly return to school next season, have a great season and potentially become the No. 1 overall pick.

Should he take that chance?

There’s some reason why Cardale Jones not only lost the starting quarterback job once, but twice.  Jones may have to compete with both Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett next year to get reps, both of which have been Heisman contenders.  Although Jones is an elite NFL prospect compared to both men, Barrett seems like a much better fit in Urban Meyer’s spread offense which doesn’t translate all that well to the NFL.

Urban Meyer’s job isn’t to promise a number of snaps to a player, or get them ready for the NFL.  His job is to win college football games and nobody does it any better.  Meyer has a history of choosing less talented quarterbacks for his teams as he once ran off Cam Newton in favor of Tim Tebow, who fit his system slightly better.

To put it simply, Cardale Jones has more to lose than gain by returning to Ohio State next year and he should have rolled the dice by entering the 2015 NFL Draft.