Coleridge Bernard "C. J." Stroud IV (born October 3, 2001) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

. He played high school football at

Rancho Cucamonga High School Rancho Cucamonga High School is a public high school in the city of Rancho Cucamonga in Southern California's Inland Empire. It is one of nine high schools in the Chaffey Joint Union High School District. Rancho Cucamonga High School opened in A ...

in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Stroud holds many Ohio State records, including most passing yards in a single game with 573 as well as being the first player to throw for six touchdowns three times. Stroud was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2021 and 2022.

Early years

Stroud was born on October 3, 2001,in Rancho Cucamonga, California, as the youngest of four children. His father has been incarcerated since Stroud was in middle school. Stroud attended

As a senior, he was the ''

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin The ''Inland Valley Daily Bulletin'' is a daily newspaper based in Rancho Cucamonga, California, serving the Pomona Valley and southwest San Bernardino County. The ''Daily Bulletin'' is a member of the Southern California News Group (formerly th ...

'' offensive player of the year after passing for 3,878 yards and 47 touchdowns. In 2019, he was the MVP of the

Elite 11 The Elite 11 is a quarterback competition for high school quarterbacks across the United States. Elite 11 was founded in 1999 by Andy Bark and continues to be run by his company, Student Sports Inc, hosted at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaver ...

. Stroud was selected to play in the 2020

All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1990. The game was known as the Hall of Fame Classic from 1977 to 1985. In 1986, the National Football Foundatio ...

. Initially considered a 3-star recruit, Stroud would finish high school as the third-highest rated quarterback of his class. He committed to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

to play college football.

College career

2020

Stroud spent his true freshman year at Ohio State redshirting as a backup to

Justin Fields Justin Skyler Fields (born March 5, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint with Georgia, he played college football at Ohio State, where he twice won Graham–G ...

. He played just one total

snap Snap or SNAP may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Snap'', the original release title for the 2013 film ''Enter the Dangerous Mind'' *''Snap'' (TV series), a CITV programme * ''The Stanly News and Press'', a newspaper in Albemarle, North Carol ...

in 2020; he scored a 48-yard rushing touchdown.

2021

Stroud was named the starting quarterback as a redshirt-freshman following the departure of Fields to the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 202 ...

. He was chosen over freshmen Kyle McCord,

Quinn Ewers Quinn Tucker Ewers (born March 15, 2003) is an American football quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. Ewers attended Ohio State University in 2021 before transferring to Texas in 2022, where he became their starter. He is noted for being the fir ...

, and fellow redshirt-freshman

Jack Miller III Jack James Miller III (born April 12, 2002) is an American football quarterback for the Florida Gators football, Florida Gators. Miller attended and played high school football at Chaparral High School (Arizona), Chaparral High School located i ...

. Coach Ryan Day credited his decision-making, leadership skills, and accuracy as the reasons that he earned the starting spot. Stroud started every game for the Buckeyes aside from a Week 2 game against

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

in order to rest a shoulder injury he sustained in the season opener. Over the season, he earned first team All-Big Ten Honors; was named the Big 10 quarterback of the year; won Big Ten Freshman of the Week six times; was a finalist for both the Davey O'Brien Award and the Heisman Trophy (losing both to

Bryce Young Bryce Christopher Young (born July 25, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide. He holds the record for most passing yards in a single game by an Alabama quarterback (559) and was the recipient of the 2021 Heisma ...

); and was the only quarterback in Ohio State history to throw five touchdowns against a Big Ten competitor four times in one season. He led the team to a 10-2 record in the regular season, with losses to

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

and bitter rival

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. The loss to Michigan cost OSU the chance to play in the Big 10 Championship. Ohio State bounced back from this disappointment at the Rose Bowl; coming back from a 14-point deficit against

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

to win 48-45. Stroud broke both OSU and Rose Bowl records with 573 yards thrown in the Rose Bowl; he also tied an OSU record and set a Rose Bowl record with 6 touchdown passes.

2022

Following a successful 2021 season, Stroud entered 2022 as one of the best players in college football, as well as the betting favorite to win the Heisman trophy. On October 8, 2022, Stroud threw 6 touchdown passes against

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

, setting a conference record for “most 6 passing touchdown games in a career” (with 3), and passed

to move to second place on the Ohio State career passing touchdowns list. Stroud and the Buckeyes again came up short against rival Michigan in their annual meeting, this time losing in Columbus 45-23. Despite the loss, the Buckeyes were selected #4 for the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

. While performing at an elite level consisting of 348 passing yards and 4 touchdown passes, Stroud and the Buckeyes lost to the #1 Ranked

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...

by a very close score of 42-41. Stroud again was named a finalist for the Heisman trophy for his season. He finished distant third behind winner

Caleb Williams Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the USC Trojans. Williams played for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, i ...

from USC and Max Duggan from TCU. On January 16, 2023, Stroud announced that he would forgo his remaining two years of college eligibility and enter the

2023 NFL Draft The 2023 NFL Draft will be the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held in the plaza outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 27–29, ...

Statistics

References

External links

*
Ohio State Buckeyes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stroud, C. J. 2001 births Living people American football quarterbacks Ohio State Buckeyes football players People from Rancho Cucamonga, California Players of American football from California Sportspeople from San Bernardino County, California