COLUMBUS, Ohio — For a little more than seven minutes, Ezekiel Elliott fidgeted with his fists, ducking and dodging questions about Ohio State’s quarterback competition as if they were Oregon defenders in last January’s national championship game.
As the Buckeyes running back’s answers got shorter with the July sun beaming into his eyes, Elliott soon saw his opening to finally escape in the form of teammate Cardale Jones, who happened to be exiting the Woody Hayes Athletic Center so that he could catch his ride to the airport for a trip to Los Angeles for Wednesday’s ESPYS.
“Hey, Cardale!” Elliott shouted gleefully to the 6’5″, 250-pound quarterback, hoping to draw the reporters’ attention to Jones.
Only there was no need for Elliott to do so—most of the Columbus media had already swarmed the national-champion signal-caller.
It was an interesting albeit not expected occurrence: the TV cameras and local beat writers seemingly biding their time with Elliott while really waiting to talk to Jones or spend just two minutes with Braxton Miller for the first time in 11 months. Elliott may be the best running back—if not the best offensive player—in the entire country, but all of the intrigue in Columbus seems to center on the Buckeyes’ upcoming quarterback competition featuring Jones, Miller and J.T. Barrett.
And for the shy-by-nature Elliott, that’s more than just fine, even as oddsmakers list him as one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy…
Continue Reading: How Heisman Front-Runner Ezekiel Elliott Has Flown Under the Offseason Radar
