C.J. Stroud Felt 'Disrespected' By Ohio State After Signing of Quinn Ewers
C.J. Stroud will end up going down as one of the best quarterbacks to ever do it for the Ohio State Buckeyes, finishing his career as a two-time Heisman finalist, and nearly leading the Buckeyes to a national title appearance in his final season.
However, it apparently wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for Stroud in Columbus, and at one point, he even felt disrespected by the program after the signing of a certain player.
That player, being current Texas Longhorns starting quarterback Quinn Ewers, who at the time of his singing was the No. 1 overall player in the country and was brought in by the Buckeyes to presumably be the quarterback of the future.
"Justin (Fields) was the starter, and I was the backup," Stroud said in a pre-draft interview with Uninterrupted’s The Shop, "The next year they brought somebody else in, Quinn Ewers the Texas quarterback, who was the No. 1 player I think ever ranked in high school. They brought him like the weekend of fall camp, which is training camp which is training camp for us, and I kind of felt disrespected. I didn't like that."
But why didn't he like it? After all quarterbacks are signed year after year by every college program, and more often than not, in consecutive classes.
According to Stroud, it was because he wasn't aware that it was happening until the day of.
"They told me the day he came," Stroud said. "I kind of think everything that I have gotten in my life has been earned, never given, and I pride myself on that. I think that's kind of why I have a chip on my shoulder a little bit. That's kind of why I have that dog in me. I mean they brought in a guy two weeks before our first game, and I thought I was the guy."
Ultimately, Stroud held on to the starting job. while Ewers, would leave Columbus and move on to Texas. And the rest of course is history. Stroud would go on to be picked No. 2 overall by the Houston Texans last month, where the next step of his career is set to begin.
But at the end of the day, Stroud realizes that the college game, just like the NFL is a business, and that it helped shape him into who he is now.
"That just shows you man, its a business at the end of the day," Stroud said. "And now, I'm doing it for myself. I know the business that I’m in, that it is, in a sense, cutthroat."
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