Ohio State Football: Stats don’t do C.J. Stroud justice

Last year was very intriguing for a lot of Ohio State football fans for a number of reasons. The biggest one was the quarterback battle that was being waged. C.J. Stroud, Kyle McCord, and Jack Miller were all fighting to be the starting quarterback after the departure of Justin Fields.

Stroud won the battle and struggled at first. I even called for McCord to take over the starting job. Then Stroud went ahead and tore up the competition after the Akron game. He just needed to sit that game out before he really showed us just how good he is.

The stats Stroud accumulated by the end of the season were ridiculous. Those stats show us that Stroud could be the best returning quarterback in all of college football. But those same stats also don’t do him enough justice for just how impressive his first year as a starter was.

To be able to overcome the adversity that he faced early in the season and show the resolve that he showed is amazing. His shoulder injury was clearly a factor early too. It was incredible to see him shake off the criticism and attack the last two-thirds of the season the way he did.

Now we know two really good things about Stroud; he has all the physical tools to be elite and he has the mental fortitude for it too. He is the complete package. While I still wish he’d run a bit more, I still have an immense amount of respect for the type of person Stroud is, as well as how good of a player he is.

I have no doubt that Stroud will be even better this season after getting all that experience under his belt. He’s an elite quarterback on a great team.