Ohio State Football: C.J. Stroud disrespected by Quinn Ewers

The 2021 Ohio State football team was pretty loaded with talent after a superb recruiting class. That class saw the Buckeyes bring in the best recruiting class in team history. It was the second-best class in the country, only sitting behind an Alabama class with 27 recruits.

Part of the reason that class was so good is that Quinn Ewers decided to reclassify and join the Ohio State football program a year early. He didn’t make that decision until the Summer, so it wasn’t like he had a realistic opportunity to win the starting job in a QB battle that year.

Still, the presence of the top-rated player in the country rankled some feathers on the roster. Most notably, it peeved C.J. Stroud, who went on to win the QB job over Kyle McCord, Jack Miller, and Ewers. Stroud let it be known that he thought it was disrespectful for the Buckeyes to add him to the roster in an episode of The Shop.

In that episode, Stroud mentions that he thought it was disrespectful that the Buckeyes brought in the number-one quarterback in the country two weeks before camp started after thinking he was the guy. He said he used it for internal motivation.

I’m not surprised that this angered Stroud. Ewers’ presence for Ohio State wasn’t exactly great. He came to Columbus to collect an NIL paycheck before heading back home to play at Texas. Now. he might lose his starting job to the number-one quarterback in this year’s class.

It obviously ended up okay for Stroud. He was recently the second overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and will be the Texans’ franchise guy for the next decade. Ryan Day was able to make it work out with him and make Stroud a better player because of the adversity.