Ohio State Football: C.J. Stroud news is overblown

When it gets closer to the NFL Draft, I like to call it silly season. I call it that because silly things come out about top prospects right before the draft to try and sink these players’ stock so teams lower in the draft can get them. It’s happening with an Ohio State football player right now.

There’s this news about C.J. Stroud blowing off the Manning Academy which he was supposedly supposed to attend. If you just hear that part of the story, it’s not a good look. You shouldn’t just blow off something you’ve committed to, especially not telling anyone beforehand.

But then you dig into the situation a bit deeper and realize that’s not what happened at all. Stroud was actually a last-minute invite the night before. He tried to move his schedule around to make it work, but in the end, he had to decline. He didn’t blow anyone off.

This is the perfect example of a silly season story. Stroud has done nothing wrong, yet there are people trying to spread information that he did so that he will slide down draft boards. I know for a fact that he won’t get past the Colts at four if he does somehow slip past the top two.

Stroud shouldn’t even mess around with something dumb like this. He’s doing the right thing by just putting his head down and continuing to meet with teams a week before he’ll know where he’s going to end up. I see zero benefits to even addressing these trash rumors.

Hopefully, Stroud gets drafted high and puts an end to this dumb narrative about Ohio State quarterbacks not succeeding in the NFL. I’d love nothing more than for him to kill it at the next level with whatever team selects him.