If Ohio State's C.J. Edited missing content
https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...b/69935659007/
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INDIANAPOLIS — The label C.J. Stroud’s trying to shake at the scouting combine this week is a sign of how much the NFL has changed.
Stroud’s been tagged as the pocket passer out of the four quarterbacks with realistic chances to be top-10 picks, the “pure thrower” out of a group that includes Alabama’s Bryce Young, Kentucky’s Will Levis and Florida’s Anthony Richardson.
Not that long ago, that reputation might have pushed Stroud to the top of the class.
But now, it’s the label that a lot of NFL draft analysts say is keeping Stroud from challenging Young for the No. 1 pick.
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A tag Stroud is trying to shed in meetings with teams, trying to convince them that he knows how to pick up yards with his legs.
“I’ll be honest, I told them like I’ll tell y’all: I didn’t do it a lot in college, and I feel like I should have,” Stroud said. “It’s something I do regret. I feel like I could have done it a lot more.”
Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud describes his style of play at the 2023 NFL combine.
Doyel: Colts, draft Bryce Young. Or CJ Stroud. Or Anthony Richardson.
The other three all have a reputation for mobility.
Richardson’s running ability produced more than 1,000 yards and his biggest highlights in two seasons at Florida, Levis shot up NFL draft boards by showing a bruising, physical running style in 2021 at Kentucky, and even though Young didn’t have big rushing numbers at Alabama, the Crimson Tide quarterback played a freewheeling style in the SEC, using his legs to create big plays down the field in the passing game.
Stroud rarely put his athleticism on display in two years spent starring at Ohio State.
Until the final game of his career.
Facing off against a Georgia defense full of future NFL first-rounders in the College Football Playoff, Stroud was magnificent, using his legs both to create big plays in the passing game and to pick up critical yards when Ohio State needed them. Under the NFL’s statistical rules — the NFL does not count yardage lost on sacks against a quarterback’s rushing totals — Young carried eight times for 72 yards against the Bulldogs, including a winding 27-yard gain on the game’s final drive.
“When you turn on the film and you really watch what I do … I have used my athleticism, not only just in the Georgia game where I did it a lot, I've done it in every other game,” Stroud said. “I’ve had tough third-down runs, I've had tough fourth-down runs, but there were times I didn't run the ball when maybe I should have.”
The NFL has always had quarterbacks known for making plays with their feet, from Fran Tarkenton to Randall Cunningham to Steve Young to Michael Vick.
But the difference is that those quarterbacks are no longer outliers. Athleticism, mobility and creativity have become a requirement for just about every NFL team.
Including the Colts, currently sitting at the No. 4 pick and desperate to find a franchise quarterback.
Both general manager Chris Ballard and new head coach Shane Steichen placed an ability to create among the top three qualities they’re trying to find in the Colts’ next quarterback.
“You’re getting a lot more athletes playing the position, so they’re going to come in different shapes, different sizes, some tall, some short,” Ballard said. “The ability to move, navigate the pocket, escape from the pocket, create plays with your feet, I mean, all those are things that we’re seeing in our league.”
Accuracy and decision-making, the other two qualities the Colts are trying to find in their next quarterback, are Stroud’s strengths.
Especially the accuracy.
When he was growing up in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Stroud’s youth coach, Tojo Munford, forced the young quarterback to stay in pocket and make plays by throwing, rather than relying on his legs. When he got to high school, his high school coach, Mark Verti, used to make Stroud do 10 push-ups if he didn’t hit the correct shoulder on bubble screens and slants.
“I’m a ball-placement specialist,” Stroud said. “I don’t want my receivers to have to do anything, really, to catch the ball, and I think I’ve shown that time and time again on film.”
Playing in an Ohio State offense chock-full of future first-round picks at wide receiver, Stroud wanted to make sure he took advantage of all the talent around him.
A desire that also limited his lack of carries at the college level.
“When dudes are open, you feed your guys the ball or they look at you like you're crazy when you walk back to the sidelines,” Stroud said.
Ohio State almost always had somebody open.
The more Stroud learned about the offense, the more he learned that the Buckeyes would almost always have a good option available in the progression of his reads.
"I get so invested in the read, because (if) you spent eight hours on one play, I guarantee you you're not going to just go 1-2-run, you're going to go 1-2-3-4 and really try to figure out who's open,” Stroud said. “You want to feed your guys the rock, man.”
To make plays like that, to find the third or fourth receiver in a progression, a quarterback has to know the offense, and that’s a sign of Stroud’s decision-making ability, of the obsessive nature Steichen wants in every quarterback he coaches.
When Steichen was talking Wednesday about the qualities that link Philip Rivers, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts — the three quarterbacks he coached before arriving in Indianapolis — the Colts new head coach offered a specific example of being able to read the defense, realize the downfield throw wasn’t there and know instantly that the ball had to be checked down to the running back.
Stroud offered an almost identical example on Friday morning, touting his ability to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage, fix issues before the snap and find easy completions when they’re available.
“I don't try to press the envelope, and I think that's very important being a quarterback sometimes,” Stroud said. "You want to let your teammates know that you're not always trying to be Superman, but when you need to make that play and you can extend that play, you get a lot more respect.”
Up until the Georgia game, Stroud hadn’t built that kind of reputation, at least among the analysts who follow the draft closely.
But the quarterbacks he cited as inspirations — as players only, not as people — in Friday’s media session were interesting. Stroud wore No. 7 because of Vick, likened his playing style to the way Deshaun Watson played in Houston, compared his ability to buy time and throw to players off-platform to Joe Burrow.
Among those three, only Burrow could be considered a pocket passer, and the Cincinnati quarterback has become a superstar in part because of his ability to buy time and get the ball to his fleet of talented receivers.
Stroud didn’t shy away from his belief in himself on Wednesday.
When he was asked about his draft profile, the Ohio State star said he firmly believes he was the best player in college football the past two years, and Stroud believes there’s more to be found.
“Honestly, I think I haven’t even touched my potential yet,” Stroud said. “I have a lot more to prove, not only to y’all but to myself, and that’s something I plan to do, because I honestly don’t think I even got close to anything in college.”
The playmaking ability Stroud displayed against Georgia suggests there’s another level to his game that he can unlock, if he learns to tap into his athleticism consistently.
If Stroud can do that, he might be exactly the kind of quarterback the Colts should take with a top-five pick.
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Last edited by JAFF; 03-03-2023 at 07:15 PM.
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03-03-2023, 06:42 PM
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