One moment in a recent Ohio State scrimmage encapsulated C.J. Stroud’s evolution at the quarterback position.
Typically reticent to allow his signal-caller to make play calling decisions on the fly, Buckeye head coach Ryan Day took a suggestion from his Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback in the middle of a red zone possession. Day ran with it, and the scarlet and gray offense put the ball in the end zone.
It didn’t surprise Day, who sees Stroud’s football knowledge put to the test day in and day out in the meeting room. But it spoke to Day’s growing confidence in the third-year quarterback, whose advanced understanding of the Buckeye offense – and the game in general – has leveled up over the offseason.
“Sometimes I feel like (Ryan Day) doesn't know how far I can go and I think I actually kinda surprise him sometimes, being a little smarter than he may think.”– C.J. Stroud
“He can handle a lot of information, but that doesn't necessarily mean you need to be really complicated, either. But he can, he sees it well, he understands it. He has really good suggestions, he has a good thought process,” Day said Monday. “Getting to the point where I go into a drive and ask him what he thinks. Not that we're always going to do that, but it's always good to hear what he's thinking and we have a lot of good back and forth.
“And I think that's a part of play calling and being on the same page with a quarterback. Because when you're in those meetings, you're talking about these things and when that play is called, you know exactly why it's been called, because we've talked about in meetings. And so you're on the same page, and I think that hopefully pays off again this year.”
If reading a defense is only becoming easier for Stroud, it’s not for a lack of trying on the part of new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. The complex scheme employed by the man Day calls the “head coach” of the Buckeye defense is known to cause confusion, and Stroud readily admits it’s stumped him on a number of occasions.
But the way Knowles tells it, Stroud deals with the wrinkles of his defense better than just about any quarterback he’s faced on the practice field in his 35-year coaching career.
“(He’s) just superior, top of the line,” Knowles said. “I mean, I was around Eli Manning at Ole Miss, I’ve said that before. But whatever we did in practice, Eli knew. Because every defense has a weakness. So the faster the quarterback can process it and find it – like everything that we do is trying to hide that hole. You really need 13 guys to play defense if you're going to cover everything, right? So you’re always trying to disguise it, get the quarterback to hold the ball a little bit.
“And C.J., he picks all that up. He and I talk and he asks questions, he wants to learn. He's really the best I've been around in terms of the way he handles (Knowles’ defense). Because we're doing a lot more now than we did back in 2003 in terms of throwing things at them. And he's fantastic. I don't think he makes mistakes. I'm glad he's on my side and I don't have to play him.”
However many conversations Stroud has had with Knowles, he’s had plenty more with Day, who has expedited his learning process since he entered the program in 2020. That year, Day often separated second-year starter Justin Fields from the rest of the quarterback group for advanced lessons on X’s and O’s and technique.
Now Stroud receives similar treatment from Day, who lauds Stroud’s ability to comprehend the majority of the information he throws at him on a regular basis.
“In that room, you have Devin (Brown), you have Kyle (McCord) and you have C.J., and they're all three different years and three different levels of understanding of the offense,” Day said. “And so it's good to be all in there together sometimes, but then sometimes it's just good to pull C.J. out, because he's very intelligent, and kind of figure out how to keep growing with him and teach at his level while you don't leave the other guys behind.”
But Stroud said Day still might not quite realize just how intelligent he is when it comes to football. Stroud said he occasionally tries to keep Day on his toes by making suggestions or asking the reasoning behind a particular play.
“Coach Day is really smart. So I mean, it's tough to kind of pick his brain in a sense. But I mean, I feel like I do a good job kind of testing him,” Stroud said last week. “I won't ask a dumb question, but I'll ask a question to see if it kind of irritates him or something. But it really never happens. He's always been kind of like a strong-willed person. I feel like me and him have a lot of similarities when it comes to that. And we're both really like students of the game. So I mean, I love watching film, he loves watching film, looking at other defenses, new plays and definitely just piggybacking off each other. So Coach Day's definitely great when it comes to that and I feel like he tests my brain, too.
“Sometimes I feel like he doesn't know how far I can go and I think I actually kinda surprise him sometimes, being a little smarter than he may think. So I definitely think that it is a great relationship.”
Stroud’s arm talent and intangibles are obvious, and much of the reason why he’s pegged as the frontrunner to win this season’s Heisman Trophy and potentially go No. 1 overall in the 2023 NFL draft. But it’s his cognitive processing both in preparation for games and on the field that will truly take him to the next level.
When asked how he’s improved over the offseason, Stroud doesn’t discuss how much stronger his arm has become or how gaudy he expects his stats to be. Rather, it’s the increased understanding of the game that stands out above all else.
“I definitely feel like (I'm) just managing the game better,” Stroud said. “Just taking what the defense gives me. If it's not there, just go through my reads, going through my progression and finding the check down if need be or running with my feet for the check down. So definitely just the game has kind of been slower for me, which I think is a good thing.”
