Ahead of the 2023 NFL draft, C.J. Stroud was candid about his rocky relationship with his dad — and his life off the football field.
According to Sports Illustrated, C.J.’s father, Coleridge Bernard Stroud III, is currently serving a 38-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to carjacking, kidnapping, robbery and misdemeanor sexual battery charges in 2015.
“My pops, he was my best friend, to have your best friend be snatched like that, it was tough,” the quarterback told the outlet in December 2022. “I just look at the things my dad did that were positive, but for a while, I wasn’t like that. I hated my pops, for real. Like man, how could you leave me like that?”
His mother, Kimberly, noted that her son stepped up amid the adversity, explaining that Coleridge’s strained relationship with C.J. began when the athlete was in middle school as his dad would “show up in spurts.”
“He had a choice when his father went away. He was going to let that motivate him and be the best or he was going to succumb to it and become a statistic of a kid whose parent did something they shouldn’t,” she said. “I sit and I’m amazed at how resilient he is. C.J. is the most amazing human I have ever met.”
As C.J. found success at The Ohio State University — starting for the Buckeyes in 2021 and 2022 — he managed to reconnect with his dad behind bars.
“After the Heisman [ceremony], C.J. is sitting there disappointed in the car, and his dad calls and they talked. At that time, that’s when I knew he forgave his dad,” Kimberly explained.
During an interview on “The Pivot” podcast that same month, C.J. noted: “When I talk to him now, I don’t hold any ill will. I told him, ‘I love you.’ He made his mistakes. I’ve made mine. It’s not about the bad.”
One month before the draft in April 2023, C.J. told USA Today that he believes he’s been “the best player in college football two years in a row.”
“I think I’m a playmaker. I think I’m very creative and I think I’m smart when it comes to protections and things like that,” he said in March 2023. “Because I saw a lot of issues before they were even there. That’s something I pride myself on. One thing about me, I think I’m a ball placement specialist. That’s one thing, I like to be very accurate. I don’t want my receivers to have to do anything but catch the ball. I think I’ve shown that time and time on film.”
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Scroll through for more on the Stroud family:
C.J.’s full name is Coleridge Bernard Stroud IV — but he has gone by C.J. since he was born. His mom, meanwhile, calls him “Cool Breeze.” "He's a calm, cool breeze because you can never tell an emotion on him," she told Cleveland.com. "Sometimes he'll make little gestures or whatever, but he's real cool-headed." Arlene Richie/Shutterstock
C.J. has three older siblings — sisters Ciara and Asmar and brother Isaiah. He cited his family and faith as his support system during an interview with the AP in December 2022. “I was talking to my mom and my cousins and my brother and my sister who came with me, and who would have thought? Honestly, like, I’m not even supposed to be here,” he said. “My faith, in high school and middle school, it kind of withered. I’ve been through a lot with my family, because, of course, my dad was a pastor and we went through what we went through. After I found Christ for myself, it just helped me out so much.” Cecil Copeland/CSM/Shutterstock
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