C.J. Stroud

Former quarterback at Ohio State. 2022: 3,688 passing yards, 41 TD, 6 INT.

QB · Ohio State · Jr. · #7

6′3″ · 218 lb · Rancho Cucamonga, CA

CFB Index 90 · #3 of 140 QBsHigh confidenceWatch-list name (model)Houston — drafted 2023, Rd 1, Pick 2, #2 overall

Recruiting

4★

PRO recruit

No. 42 nationally · Signed with Ohio State

Statement game432 yds · 6 TDvs Michigan State (FBS) · W 56-7

Top 0.1% passing TDs game since 2021.

OSU dropping another 50 burger today. Stroud might lock up the Heismanr/CFB game thread · ▲ 3His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former quarterback at Ohio State. 2022: 3,688 passing yards, 41 TD, 6 INT.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Ohio State in 2020.
Drafted round 1 by the Houston in 2023.

His career, year by year

Career, closed

Gone at #2 overall.

How it ended

Three seasons at Ohio State, 8,123 passing yards — drafted at #2 overall by Houston.

His career

He barely played early on. Then he did not come off the field.

2020

Signed with Ohio State4-star out of Rancho Cucamonga

2023

Drafted by Houstonround 1, pick 2

Career arc

Recruit

★★★★

#42 national

CFB

College

Ohio State

2020–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

R1 · #2

Houston · 2023

Featured in The Canon

#20

The 100 Best Players of the CFP Era

Coaching lineage · 2020–2022

1 coach

2020–2022

Ryan Day

Ohio State

Played his entire career under Ryan Day.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

HoustonEntering 4th NFL season

#2Rd 1 · Pick 2

HoustonEntering 4th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

3 seasons under Ryan Day — 29-5 over that span.

2020Ohio State7-1HC: Ryan Day · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2021Ohio State11-2HC: Ryan Day · Balanced, fast tempo

2022Ohio State11-2HC: Ryan Day · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

90All-Conference level #3 of 140?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: epa / dropback (99th percentile). Strength: explosive rate (96th percentile). Concern: rush tds (10th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

EPA / dropback#3 / 169 · 99th pct

0.52

Explosive rate#7 / 169 · 96th pct

15.5%

Success rate#9 / 169 · 95th pct

54.6%

Sack rate#19 / 169 · 89th pct

3.0%

Interception rate#46 / 169 · 73rd pct

1.5%

Box-score rates (8)

Pass TDs#2 / 177 · 99th pct

Yards / att#3 / 177 · 98th pct

9.5

Pass yards#13 / 177 · 93rd pct

3688

Completion %#29 / 177 · 83rd pct

66.3%

Fumbles lost#27 / 169 · 68th pct

Interceptions#75 / 177 · 52nd pct

Rush yards#86 / 177 · 51st pct

108

Rush TDs#141 / 177 · 10th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

99th → 99th percentile

Success rate

99th → 95th percentile

Explosive rate

96th → 96th percentile

Sack rate

96th → 89th percentile

Interception rate

80th → 73rd percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

247/377 (65.5%) · 41 TD · 6 INT

377 of 389 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

10.382 of 206 QBs

Sack rate

3.0%26 of 206 QBs

Rarely sacked (26 of 206 QBs) and still 2 of 206 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

43%of completions

106 comp4.8 yds avg10 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

34%of completions

85 comp13.7 yds avg6 TD

Deep

20+ yds

23%of completions

56 comp32.7 yds avg14 TD

Overall 65.5% completion on 377 attempts · 56 deep completions averaging 32.7 yds.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home8g	288	3.6	9.9	0.6
Road5g	276	2.4	9.1	0.2

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-77g	298	4.0	10.9	0.4
Weeks 8+6g	267	2.2	8.2	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Ryan Day

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2022

Watch-list name (model)

Our Heisman model has him inside the top 25; he is not on a published award watch list yet.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

90 · #3 of 140 QBs

Former four-star. Now #3 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	Ohio State	258	389	66.3%	3,688	9.5	41	6	177.7	96	--	--
2021	Ohio State	317	441	71.9%	4,435	10.1	44	6	186.6	96	--	--
2020	Ohio State	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Career		575	830	69.3%	8,123	9.8	85	12	182.4	96	--	--

Season	Team
2022	Ohio State	47	108	2.3	0	--
2021	Ohio State	32	-20	-0.6	0	--
2020	Ohio State	1	48	48.0	1	--
Career		80	136	1.7	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 9 · 2022

W 44–31

at Penn State

354 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 93.6 · 5 rush yds (6 car)

Edged out Penn State on the road in a shootout.

With J. Mirco — 52 AVG · 1 IN 20 · 53 LONG · M. Harrison Jr. — 10 rec · 185 yds

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 6 · Michigan State · 2&7 · Q1 · EPA -7.47C.J. Stroud pass intercepted for a TD Charles Brantley return for 32 yds for a TD, (Jack Stone KICK)
Week 6 · Michigan State · 3&4 · Q1 · EPA +6.61C.J. Stroud pass complete to Emeka Egbuka for 69 yds for a TD, (Noah Ruggles KICK)
Week 8 · Iowa · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +6.33C.J. Stroud pass complete to Julian Fleming for 79 yds for a TD, (Noah Ruggles KICK)
Week 2 · Arkansas State · 3&10 · Q1 · EPA +5.26C.J. Stroud pass complete to Marvin Harrison Jr. for 42 yds for a TD, (Noah Ruggles KICK)
Week 11 · Indiana · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +4.56C.J. Stroud pass complete to Marvin Harrison Jr. for 58 yds for a TD, (Noah Ruggles KICK)
Week 5 · Rutgers · 2&15 · Q2 · EPA +4.27C.J. Stroud pass complete to Julian Fleming for 36 yds for a TD, (Noah Ruggles KICK)
Week 9 · Penn State · 3&10 · Q1 · EPA +4.03C.J. Stroud pass complete to Marvin Harrison Jr. for 37 yds to the PnSt 38 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Michigan State · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.92C.J. Stroud pass complete to Julian Fleming for 51 yds for a TD, (Noah Ruggles KICK)
Week 13 · Michigan · 3&8 · Q4 · EPA +3.87C.J. Stroud pass complete to Emeka Egbuka for 44 yds to the Mich 15 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Michigan State · 3&8 · Q2 · EPA +3.78C.J. Stroud pass complete to Marvin Harrison Jr. for 32 yds to the MchSt 30 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 21-10vs Notre Dame	24/34	223	2	0	6.6	89.5	4 TD passes
Wk 2	W 45-12vs Arkansas State	16/24	351	4	0	14.6	93.7	4 TD passes
Wk 3	W 77-21vs Toledo	22/27	367	5	0	13.6	99.4	Season-high 367 yds
Wk 4	W 52-21vs Wisconsin	17/27	281	5	1	10.4	98.9	5 TD passes
Wk 5	W 49-10vs Rutgers	13/22	154	2	1	7.0	78.0
Wk 6	W 49-20@ Michigan State	21/26	361	6	1	13.9	97.9	6 TD passes
Wk 8	W 54-10vs Iowa	20/30	286	4	1	9.5	65.6	4 TD passes
Wk 9	W 44-31@ Penn State	26/33	354	1	0	10.7	93.6
Wk 10	W 21-7@ Northwestern	10/26	76	0	0	2.9	59.3
Wk 11	W 56-14vs Indiana	17/28	297	5	0	10.6	83.1	5 TD passes
Wk 12	W 43-30@ Maryland	18/30	241	1	0	8.0	77.5
Wk 13	L 23-45vs Michigan	31/48	349	2	2	7.3	68.6
Bowl	L 41-42@ Georgia	23/34	348	4	0	10.2	—
Total		258/389	3688	41	6	9.6	83.8

How he plays

Play style

High-percentage passer who protects the ball. Loses the matchup on improvisation.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

43.6%Completion %

31.7%Conversion/dropback

23.5%Land short of sticks

2INTs

43.6% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 31.7% conversion-per-dropback — 23.5% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. ~ our read: checkdown by design