Head coach Ted Ginn Jr. has decided to hand the Columbus Aviators’ quarterback job to Jalen Morton for the club’s final two home games, a move that turns the end of an eliminated season into a live audition.
Morton, who played at Prairie View A&M and went undrafted in 2020 before earning training camp stints with the Green Bay Packers and the Indianapolis Colts, will start as the Aviators host the Birmingham Stallions on Saturday. Columbus was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention last weekend with a loss to Birmingham, and the team will close its inaugural season the following Sunday at home against Louisville.
The timing sharpens the stakes. With two home games left, the Aviators are using those dates to evaluate players for the future. The Birmingham game will air on ABC 6 and the season finale against Louisville will air on FOX 28, giving Morton a regional platform to play against teams that already figured into Columbus’s recent playoff hopes.
Morton framed the opportunity in blunt terms. "I know my path to get back to the NFL," he said, adding, "You have to go through this league and show out in this league." The line is both a goal and a game plan: with the postseason out of reach, Morton’s play in the final home stretch is a direct audition for the next level.
Ginn put the move in team context. "You play for the name on the back of the jersey," he said, then pushed at the other side of the message: "You still want to be a part of the Aviator culture. Ohio and Columbus are still behind us." The coach’s dual thrust—rewarding performance while underlining commitment to the club—signals that the decision is as much about evaluation as it is about results.
For Columbus, the choice removes ambiguity for the remainder of the season. The Aviators will not reach the playoffs and the final pair of home games have become a compressed scouting window. Morton’s background—college at Prairie View A&M, undrafted in 2020, followed by short stays with the Packers and Colts—matches a profile of players who use alternative pro leagues to rebuild résumés.
The friction in the moment comes from that mismatch: a starting role handed to a player at a team whose immediate goals have already collapsed. That contradiction is exactly why these two games matter. Morton’s performances will be judged not by wins that move Columbus into the postseason but by individual plays, decision-making under pressure and consistency over two nationally broadcast opportunities.
Ginn’s message about the jersey and the Aviator culture sets a parallel standard. The team appears intent on balancing a player-evaluation agenda with maintaining standards for commitment and cohesion even after elimination. How Morton fits into that culture—and whether he can translate his stated path back to the NFL into on-field production—will define what comes next for both him and the Aviators.
Morton has been blunt about what he needs to do. He said, "I know my path to get back to the NFL," and he reiterated the necessity of the league as a proving ground: "You have to go through this league and show out in this league." Those sentences do the work an offseason resume can’t: they set a deadline. The immediate next chapter is clear—Morton starts Saturday against Birmingham and then again the following Sunday against Louisville—and the next opportunities for him will be written in the film of those two games.
