More than two years before winning a national championship and installing himself as a part of Buckeye lore, Cardale Jones had some thoughts on going to school: Namely, that he shouldn't be forced to go to classes when he's clearly there to play football.

Jones obviously understood the NCAA system in all of its intricacies, which define Jones' value as a football player to be far exceeding his value as a student. So why attend class? Well, to keep up the charade, but also because that's the entire point of going to college.

Also, people get very mad when you make a great point about the double-standards of college athletics, even if you did so accidentally. At any rate, Jones decided to apologize for his previous statements.

#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

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

According to the school's athletics website, Jones is an African-American studies major. After rising from the third-string in preseason to starter by the end of the year, and leading Ohio State to a national championship in the first year of the College Football Playoff, Jones briefly considered declaring for the NFL draft.

Ultimately, he decided he had more improvements to make in his game before jumping to the pros. In other words: He's back at Ohio State to prep himself for the NFL, but sure, he'll play along with the academic stuff if it keeps everyone's pants on.

Still, his reformed thinking on the value of education didn't stop Jones from insisting that economics, like talent, can't be taught: