JD Pickell: CJ Stroud has taken the next step

CJ Stroud is one of the nation’s best quarterbacks entering the 2022 college football season and has taken the necessary strides this offseason to take his game to the next level.

On3’s JD PicKell believes Stroud has the makings of a future NFL quarterback, and offered up his take on the Heisman hopeful ahead of what the Buckeyes hope to be a season where Ohio State ends the season in the four-team field for this season’s College Football Playoff.

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“CJ Stroud, yeah, I know he was good last year, put up really good numbers last year – he’s taken the next step,” PicKell said. “CJ Stroud is saying he’s faster than he’s ever been, took the weight room really seriously in the offseason, bulked up to 220 pounds. [Letterman Row’s Spencer Holbrook told me] he just looks like an NFL quarterback. For his second year starting – that’s huge.

“My question mark about CJ Stroud heading into this year was that there were times last year where he looked like a first-year starter, didn’t reflect it in the stat sheet, but there were games where I was like, ‘hmm, I don’t know that he’s necessarily bought into his own hype, yet,’ and maybe you need to do that a little bit.”

Stroud passed for over 4,435 yards and 44 touchdowns in 2021 which were both in the top five in both categories in the nation. PicKell believes that’s only just the beginning for Stroud’s success in the grand scheme of the redshirt sophomore’s career.

“I think for CJ Stroud to take that next step, as a leader, as a quarterback going from – we say all the time – going from being the quarterback to being the guy is very different in the way you lead your football team. And by all accounts, Spencer [Holbrook] told me he’s locked in. He looks better than he ever has physically, he is sharp, he is commanding this team. He is one of the leaders of this football team – scary news for everybody else in the Big Ten.”