Stroud develops instinct to match his strong arm
C.J. Stroud’s throwing ability has been obvious from the start.
What has been evident over time is that his arm is only part of the reason he has vaulted himself into Heisman Trophy front-runner status.
Last Saturday, Stroud completed 32 of 35 passes for 432 yards and six touchdowns in Ohio State’s 56-7 thrashing of No. 7 Michigan State. At one point, he completed 17 straight passes, breaking the OSU record. Imagine what his statistics would have been if coach Ryan Day hadn’t pulled him after the first drive of the third quarter with OSU ahead 49-0.
“C.J. is one of a kind,” said wide receiver Chris Olave. “His talent is off the charts. I’m proud of him, and I can’t wait to see him keep going.”
Stroud is a redshirt freshman, but he processes the game and can manipulate a defense like a seasoned veteran.
On Stroud’s second touchdown pass last week, a 77-yard post pattern to Garrett Wilson, he knew the Michigan State safety would try to read his eyes. So Stroud made sure he didn’t stare at Wilson until he planted to throw. The safety was slow to respond, the ball was on target and Wilson did the rest.
He did a similar thing on Olave’s second score, a 43-yarder.
“They’re just looking at where I’m looking,” Stroud said of Michigan State’s defensive backs. “I kind of knew that and tried to just mess with the safety just to scoot him over a little bit. He was kind of deep, but Chris did a great job.”
Michigan State, which entered the game yielding the most passing yards in the country, was no match for Stroud and the Buckeyes’ trio of Wilson, Olave and Jaxon Smith-njigba.
“We got a little bit more Cover 2 than we thought we were going to get, but a lot of the things I can kind of see before it happened, thanks to preparation,” Stroud said.
That preparation has enabled him to flourish, especially since his throwing shoulder has healed from the separated AC joint he sustained in the opener at Minnesota.
“I think his anticipation is off the charts,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “I think he sees things really, really well. I think his touch is excellent. When he needs to put a little extra on it, he does. He’s accurate downfield. He doesn’t make the guys work for the ball.
“Certainly, our receivers are excellent, and they create a lot of separation make a lot of plays. But C.J. is special, too.”
Last week’s performance makes him a virtual lock to be invited to New York City as a Heisman Trophy finalist, and he’s likely the favorite now.
With the showdown at No. 6 Michigan on Saturday, Day didn’t want any Heisman talk to become a distraction.
“I’ve told him all along that you know, praise and criticism are all the same,” he said. “You have to treat it the same way. The same people that thought maybe you shouldn’t have been playing are the same people telling you that maybe you should be the Heisman Trophy winner.”
But Day didn’t seem overly worried that Stroud will get caught up in that.
“He’s been really steady even though there’s been a lot of ups and downs,” he said.
“Right now, we’re on an upswing, so being able to handle that is critically important, almost more important than when things go bad.”