C.J. Stroud’s strengths as a QB date back to his youth football days

C.J. Stroud talks about athleticism, and being a “ball-placement specialist,” at the Combine

The most popular place in Indianapolis on Friday morning during the 2023 NFL Draft Combine?

Podium one, located in Hall J of the Indiana Convention Center.

From that spot over the course of one hour, three of the most intriguing prospects in the entire 2023 NFL Draft — quarterbacks Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, and Anthony Richardson, in that order — met the media. All three quarterbacks talked about their strengths, their decision to turn pro, and of course answered the myriad questions about which teams they have met with during this entire process.

For Stroud, he knows what his strength is, and that strength is not a surprise to anyone who has watched his career at Ohio State.

Ball placement:

Stroud’s ball-placement skills have their roots well before Ohio State, and even before his high school playing days. Stroud talked about how his ability to play from the pocket was forged during his youth football days, along with his accuracy. “In youth ball my coach, his name is [Willie] Munford, I played for the Alta Loma Warriors forced me to stay in the pocket, he forced me to be accurate. My high school coach, Coach Verde, we used to do like little bubble screens, if I didn’t hit the top shoulder I’d do ten pushups, little small things like that. It forced me to be accurate ... that’s something I pride myself on.”

Stroud talked at length about this game against Georgia in the College Football Playoff, and how in that loss to the Bulldogs he showed the athleticism and mobility that many wondered if he could bring to the next level. But for the quarterback, that is something that has been there the entire time. “If you turn on the film and you really watch what I do and you really look at film game-to-game, I have used my athleticism not only just in the Georgia game, where I did it a lot, but I’ve done it in every other game.”

Still, it comes back to placement. “I throw guys open, and that’s something I think is rare. At the league, dude’s aren’t wide open, and I think I’ve done that in my career, where guys aren’t wide open, but I think I throw them that way.”

Stroud will get another chance to show off those ball placement skills on Saturday, as he is one of those quarterbacks who is going to throw at Lucas Oil Stadium during the workouts. As noted earlier in the week, that throwing session has a chance to solidify Stroud’s status not only as an early quarterback in this draft, but perhaps a QB in the mix for the top spot overall.