While there are fans of many college teams on this board, a lot of us are Buckeye fans. When you combine that with the fact that C. J. Stroud is a very strong candidate for the overall #1 pick in the draft I felt his name would be coming up quite a bit. As had been reported he had a very strong showing at the NFL combine. He seemed to put on a repeat performance at Ohio state's pro day.....

Watch: Ohio State's C.J. Stroud puts on a throwing clinic at Buckeyes' pro day

Wednesday was Ohio State's pro day which featured 30 of the NFL's 32 teams arriving at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. While the more than 100 members of NFL staffs were there to take a look at all 14 of the Buckeyes' draft-eligible prospects, there was one player who stole the show: quarterback C.J. Stroud.

Stroud, who is a candidate to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, did not do the individual drills but did throw to receivers for nearly 30 minutes. As he did at the NFL Combine earlier this month, Stroud put on a show as the quarterback left an impression while throwing to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., Xavier Johnson, Cade Stover, Mitch Rossi and Jayden Ballard.

Below is our highlights of Stroud's throws.



Stroud spent three seasons as the Scarlet and Gray's starting quarterback, two as a starter, before declaring early for the NFL Draft.

As a freshman in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Stroud served as the primary backup to starting quarterback Justin Fields. Stroud played in three games that year, totaling eight snaps, and rushing once for a 48-yard touchdown (no pass attempts).

Heading into his redshirt freshman season, the Rancho Cucamonga, California native won the quarterback competition over classmate Jack Miller and true freshman Kyle McCord. Stroud started all but one game for Ohio State -- missed due to a shoulder injury -- in 2021, leading the team to a 10-2 record and a Rose Bowl victory against Utah.

In 2021, Stroud completed 71.9 percent of his passes, throwing for 4,435 yards -- third and fifth in the nation respectively. He also threw for 44 touchdowns to just six interceptions, despite having never thrown a collegiate pass. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist and won the Big Ten's Graham–George Offensive Player of the Year, the Thompson–Randle El Freshman of the Year and the Griese–Brees Quarterback of the Year awards.

In his second season as the Scarlet and Gray's starting quarterback, Stroud once again helped the Buckeyes to become one of the best offenses in the country. Stroud completed 66.3 percent of his passes while throwing for 3,688 yards and 41 touchdown passes to just six interceptions, despite losing his top wide receiver in Smith-Njigba for nearly the entire year. The quarterback also rushed for 108 yards on 35 carries. At the end of the regular season, Stroud had the best quarterback rating (176.25) in the country this season, was tied for the most touchdown passes, No. 3 in passing yards per attempt (9.4) and was in the top 20 in passing yards and yards per game (278.3), helping the Scarlet and Gray to the College Football Playoff.

Stroud left Ohio State second in career passing yards (8,123), touchdown passes (85), passes completed (575) and completion percentage (69.3). While he was 0-2 against rivals Michigan, did not win the Big Ten and only played in one Playoff, he was one of the best quarterbacks in Ohio State history. He hopes to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, which will take place in late April in Kansas City.

https://247sports.com/college/ohio-...wbS-PAHvt0w0Eziwc27s8gwxPiMV2l-NYv1uQDSU

Stroud had a hell of a showing. He is locked in at either #1 or #2 in the draft. He crazy accurate and near effortless when throwing. The NFL is going to put another 5-10 lbs. on him and increase his arm strength (which is already big enough). I hope whatever team that drafts him gives him time to develop before throwing him to the wolves.

It's not as common these days that NFL teams allow their rookies QB's drafted at #1 or #2 to sit and develop the way they used to do more often than not. Maybe for a short time but not for a very long periods of time as was more often the case in days gone by. Green Bay seems to be the master at allowing QB's to develop before they start. In most all cases these teams drafting a QB at #1 or #2 are desperate for a starting QB and believe their draft pick is far better than any other option available to them.

It seems that they must feel that the best way to develop a QB is by them gaining game experience. And when you think about it, nothing else duplicates an NFL game better than playing in them. I'm not sure that in all such cases I agree with that theory but once they absorb the playbook it seems most NFL HC's these days do and who am I to argue with them?

Quite honestly, I think he goes to Carolina. An overall better choice when durability matters compared to Young.

I would certainly give him the edge as well.

I think he goes #1... I was hoping Texans would be able to get him... but worry that Carolina will take him... like his size better than Bryce...

I am beyond pleased that we have no shot at either of these supposed top QBs.

C.J Stroud will go #1 despite these so called draft experts trying to derail him ... JMHO

Thank goodness the draft is nearly here. I haven't paid less attention to a draft in 22 years.

As for QB's - if I was a QB needy team at the top of this draft - I'd be doing all I could to trade for 2024 first round picks with any team that might land in the top 3-4 of that draft. There's not too many guys I have coveted - but man I think Caleb Williams is going to be a great NFL QB, I'd maneuver for him before taking any QB in this draft. I like Stroud - but I don't see the same ceiling as Williams. Not nearly.

In this draft I like Will Levis.

He is going to be a very good QB, and unlike some of the others mentioned, I think his floor is the highest. Some may end up flying higher, but I don't see a bust factor with Levis. He will be very good and good enough to help any team win big games.

I dunno about Levis.

I'd have a hard time picking a guy that eats his bananas still in the peel and puts mayonnaise in his coffee.

He has the physical talent, but I'm not sure about the between the ears portion.

Speaking about between the ears,I saw where CJ scored 18% on the new test the NFL gives players.

Then he says, "But at the end of the day, I don’t got nothing to prove to nobody" He "isn't a test taker".

Ok...so we know he isn't a test taker nor a public speaker.

I actually haven't watched a ton of the QBs with no 1st round pick and Watson in place. The one thing that stood out on a quick watch of Levis is that his ball placement wasn't great. The throws look easy coming out of his hand, but he appeared to leave a lot of YAC on the field. In the Georgia game (common opponent with Stroud), every target seemed to turn into Austin Hooper and instantly fall down. I saw a lot of high, low, and behind placement which likely contributed. Not a definitive take, but it's what I noticed.

It turns out he did not get 18% on the test, he scored in the 18th percentile of the test takers which is quite different. I have no idea how they score the test but imagine 50 people taking one and the scores range from 40-50. The 18th percentile could mean he scored a 42 or 43. This sounds like a "leak" to bring down his value. There have been a bunch of other "unnamed source" info on him that makes me wonder of a team or teams is trying to make him fall to them. Obviously, this is just my thoughts, but thinking team(s) would not do this is not that far out there. I remember the year Marino was drafted, a lot of rumors came out about suspected drug use, and he fell into the 20s. It was never mentioned again.

That certainly changes everything. That places him in the top 20% of everyone who took that test.

Actually it places him in the bottom 20%. My point was, unless you know the range from top to bottom, 18 percentile could be more than adequate. Now if the scores range from 10-100, he would likely be in the teens which is concerning. Saying that, I always question these "silly season", unnamed source, last minute, nit pick comments.

Bryce Young will be #1 pick...

that's the bottom line cause Stone Cold says so.

By that logic Bryce Young who scored 98% really only scored 2%.

Question: when did the world turn upside down?

It's like grading on the curve. The entire class could score over 90%, and some people with scores over 90% would fail. Like you said, it's hard to draw a conclusion without knowing the scoring range (or what they actually even test for).

Stranger Things, Season 5.

I have given up trying to predict how collegiate qbs transition to the NFL, but one of the knocks I heard on Stroud was his processing skills. That is absolutely laughable. No one in college processes information better than he does. He is also the most accurate passer to all three zones of the field of any qb in this class. His deep ball traveled farther than Richardson's at the Combine. Long time analysts said his Combine was one of the best "ever."

My hesitation w/him is how well will he handle pressure in the pocket. OSU had a good OL. He had a lot of time to throw. He sometimes held it too long and didn't always stand strong in the face of the rush.

I hope he doesn't go to Houston. Many black commentators, such as Stephen A Smith, are saying that Houston is the worst place in the league for a black man.

He went #2 to the Texans,
I'm still afraid he is going to end up in Baltimore by the end of ...
to terrozize the Browns for years, bleh.

I agree with you regarding pressure, until I watched the Georgia game. He seemed to avoid the rush while looking downfield against that pretty good D. But I am no expert and may have missed other breakdowns. I hope he succeeds except I wish he wasn't going to the Texans.

I agree with all of this. It blows my mind Stroud went second.

Some information from Ryan Day:


According to a report from NFL writer Bob McGinn, the two-time Heisman Trophy finalist and top NFL draft prospect only scored an 18% on the S2 test, which was significantly lower than the rest of the 2023 quarterback draft class.

In the aftermath, many critics questioned the validity of those results, as well as the value of the assessment in projecting success for an NFL quarterback. On ESPN's NFL Live ahead of the draft Thursday, Ryan Day weighed in on the topic and said he actually spoke with those involved with the S2 test in order to gain more clarity.

"I wasn't sure much about it, because when I was in the NFL, this wasn't a test that the guys took. So this morning I actually met with the folks on Zoom with the S2 cognitive test. I learned quite a few things about it," Day said. "First off, it's all based on your eye reaction and reaction to buttons. Pressing buttons. So there's no IQ test, there's no question and answer, there's nothing like that. The second one is only 15 teams actually subscribe to this test. So less than half the teams actually have this information."

Day also believes the scores were leaked for strategic draft purposes and the reported test results were either inaccurate or out of context given the breadth of the S2 evaluation.

"I also learned that the information that had been leaked – which I'm assuming it was for sort of strategic reason, otherwise why would somebody actually do it – that some of those test scores weren't accurate," Day said. "And then the last thing is there's 10 scores that actually get evaluated during the S2 process, and you don't know what those scores mean, they're all evaluating different things. So to just kind of take a number that got leaked and make an evaluation of somebody is a little irresponsible."

Day said he views Stroud's cognitive processing on the football field as one of his greatest strengths. When asked about the controversy himself on Wednesday in Kansas City, Stroud said "I'm not a test taker, I play football."

"One of the things that I think makes C.J. great is his processing ability," Day said. "So I wanted to grab on and just kind of find out a little bit more about the test, so that was a great conversation, I learned a lot about that today."


Link

I agree with you 100% Vers. During the start of the offseason before, I made a post about my vision for that offseason then to this one. Barring any QB trades or some crazy signing, my vision was to trade back in last years draft and pick up as many draft assets as possible to secure the #1 or 2 pick this year. There were a few QBs that had some great qualities, but CJ is who I wanted.

We ended up trading for DW, so their vision was way better than mine, haha.

What really excited me was the glimpses of what you stated, but more than that it was his growth as a QB from the beginning of his first season to the end. His first so many games were ok. I was patient as I believed in Day and his choice at QB, but once it clicked it was almost night and day. The accuracy of his throws, the spot placement and decision making was excellent. Season two, he just built off that and dude was ballin by the end of the Georgia game.

j/c

“The city of Houston hasn't seen a franchise quarterback in a long time,” Stroud said, via Aaron Wilson. “I definitely think I can become a franchise quarterback. I got to put in a lot of work.”.... C.J. Stroud