Quarterback. It’s the Lexus of our lexicon, the astronaut of sports jobs, and even the word itself has a gravitas of grandiose grandeur that speaks of power and presence and prom king. Yet one word can diminish this great pronounced noun, tacked on just before it — backup.
The backup quarterback is Brock Osweiler, standing on the outskirts of Super Bowl media day, as a wandering passer-by wonders if that’s that Edward guy from “Twilight”; the quarterback is Peyton Manning, suffocated by hundreds of reporters and revelers, hanging on to every Southern syrup-dripping word of his like it’s gospel.
But because of the disproportionate importance of quarterback in football, the backup quarterback occasionally becomes the quarterback and, thus, the man. The chasm, though, often means chaos. But on those rare moments when the backup quarterback plays like he’s actually supposed to be the quarterback, well, that’s storybook stuff here on these pages.
So what to make of Ohio State’s Cardale Jones, who wasn’t just the backup quarterback, but the backup quarterback’s backup?
“If you’re a backup quarterback who’s been forced into action, you have a special place in your heart for backup quarterbacks everywhere,” said Charles Johnson, who wasn’t even the most prominent Charles Johnson on the 1990 Colorado Buffaloes, but is perhaps the most famous for filling in at quarterback.
CU’s C.J. filled in a couple of times that fall for the injured Darian Hagan — famously at Missouri, where Colorado won on the infamous fifth down, and heroically at the Orange Bowl, where Colorado won the national championship.
After his performance Thursday in the Sugar Bowl, Cardale Jones — yes, Cardale Jones — will play against Oregon and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota for the national championship.
The third-string quarterback became second string after a season-ending injury to Braxton Miller, then became quarterback, no strings attached, when J.T. Barrett broke his ankle in the Buckeyes’ regular-season finale.
You know the story. Jones catapulted Ohio State to the first-ever playoff in his first start — a 59-0 win against Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. And then, there he was, firing darts through the Alabama defense like he was predestined for this Cinderella destiny.
It’s something from a dream, which is exactly what happened with Colorado in 1990.
“Here’s the crazy thing, and it’s absolutely true,” Johnson said by phone. “Hagan and I were roommates, and on the morning of the game, I swear to you, he said, ‘C.J., I had a dream that we won the game but you were the quarterback.’ What I told him was, I planned on coming to Miami, hanging out on the sideline in my baseball cap and getting a national championship ring. We chuckled a little bit about it. He told me again in the locker room, ‘Be ready, bro.’ And then, he’s laid out on the field after taking a hit.”
Indeed, Hagan was hurt near the end of the second quarter against Notre Dame.
“But I’m convinced that he’ll be fine,” Johnson said. “He was in a closed area of the locker room, and I’m thinking he’s going to emerge from that door, perfectly fine. But with one minute before we had to go out on the field (for the third quarter), he came out of the room with sweats on. And I’m thinking, ‘Oh (expletive), this really is how this is going to happen.’ “
Johnson was named the game’s offensive MVP, and the Buffs beat Notre Dame 10-9 with C.J. engineering the lone CU touchdown drive.
Fate, man.
Johnson later appeared on “The Tonight Show” that winter, and over the next 24 winters he developed a successful career working for CU and in sports-talk radio.
“All of this,” he said of his incredible journey, “culminated in my daughter Mykaela, this incredible young girl, getting a 34 on her ACTs and being accepted to Yale.”
Yes, Johnson was CU’s student-body president, he said, but much credit goes to Mykaela’s motivated mother who, he explained, “wouldn’t accept anything less than her daughter’s absolute best.”
When you hear about a story like this, it makes you ask what if? What if the backup quarterback had always been the backup quarterback?
Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or
