All About C.J. Stroud, the Quarterback Drafted by the Houston Texans in 2023 (2024)

C.J. Stroud took the 2023 NFL Draft by storm.

The Ohio State University quarterback was the No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft. Stroud began his football career in high school, but he didn't even play in a game until his junior year, when he received his first college football offer.

Stroud accomplished this while dealing with a difficult personal life: His father went to prison when Stroud was 13, and his mother raised him alone alongside his siblings. It wasn't until Stroud's senior year of high school that his luck turned. He received numerous college scholarship offers and chose to become a Buckeye.

Aside from QB duties, Stroud considers himself a "playmaker" and "ball-placement specialist." "I don't think I've touched my potential yet. I think I have a lot more to get better at," Stroud said at the NFL Scouting Combine, per USA Today. "I'm excited to see what I do in the NFL."

Leading up to the draft, Stroud told PEOPLE that he is staying "stress-free."

"I'm just honestly just trying to stay stress-free," he shared. "I mean, a lot of things are not in my control anymore. I feel like the combine and pro day, there were controllable for me."

Stroud added, "People gotta pick me and I don't gotta make no hard decisions ... so I'm trying to stay stress-free."

On April 27, 2023, he was drafted by the Houston Texans.

Here's everything to know about C.J. Stroud.

He was selected by the Houston Texans during the 2023 NFL Draft

Before Stroud was chosen by the Houston Texans as the No. 2 overall pick, the quarterback was predicted to be the "co-favorite" alongside University of Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. On April 6, Jaime Eisner of the Draft Network noted that both of their odds were -110.

"I asked at least 20 NFL personnel people on this, and the votes are essentially split between Alabama's Bryce Young and Ohio State's C.J. Stroud," ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported. "There might be a slight edge to Young, but it's still too close to decipher who the true favorite is right now. The Carolina Panthers have done a stealth job holding the suspense, and only a few people in their building truly know the name that's going on the draft card."

"Wherever God wants me to be, that's what's important," Stroud told PEOPLE before the NFL draft. "I mean, I know that He has a plan in my life, so whether I go 1, 2, 3 in the draft, wherever it's at, I'm ready for it, and I'm blessed to be here."

He is a record breaker

The California native is a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist — the first two-time finalist from Ohio State. He was named a Big Ten freshman of the year; combined with two honors each of Big Ten player of the year and quarterback of the year, Stroud received five Big Ten individual awards.

He also led the best offense in the nation during the 2021 season and became the first quarterback in Big Ten history to have 30 or more touchdown passes in back-to-back seasons.

His real name has a special meaning

Stroud's full name is Coleridge Bernard Stroud IV, which was passed down from his great-grandfather. Per Cleveland.com, the name originated from a 19th-century Greek philosopher. Stroud hasn't shared exactly where the "J" came from or what it stands for, but he told the Big Ten Network that he's used the moniker C.J. since he was born.

His mother, Kimberly, told Cleveland.com that people only call him C.J. and not his full name. She also shared that "Cool Breeze" is another one of his nicknames. "He's a calm, cool breeze because you can never tell an emotion on him," she said. "Sometimes he'll make little gestures or whatever, but he's real cool-headed."

He was a child prodigy

Youth football coach Willie Munford first met Stroud when he was just 9 years old. At the time, he could throw a 50-yard pass, roughly twice as long as other kids his age. He was so good that fellow coaches complained about him.

"They was saying I was cheating because he was too old," Munford told Sports Illustrated. "Slinging that ball downfield like he was, the biggest problems I had then was receivers catching it. He was dropping dimes back then. In 30 years, I've never had a quarterback like that."

Munford coached Stroud for five years, during which he won two youth league titles.

He grew up resilient

Stroud was 13 when his father was incarcerated for the second time. In 2015, Coleridge Sr. pled guilty to kidnapping, carjacking, robbery and misdemeanor sexual battery, and was later sentenced to 38 years to life. Kimberly became the breadwinner, moved the family into an apartment above a storage facility and "nearly went homeless."

According to Sports Illustrated, Stroud got blisters from wearing worn-out cleats and even played a full game with only a single contact lens. Unlike kids who could afford a private coach, Stroud coached himself by watching YouTube videos.

"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," Kimberly told SI. "I sit and I'm amazed at how resilient he is. C.J. is the most amazing human I have ever met."

He played basketball

He isn't only talented on the football field — in high school, Stroud played basketball. His first post on Instagram is a video of him as a senior playing a basketball game with the hashtag "#MambaMentality," a term coined by Kobe Bryant, who was nicknamed "Black Mamba," to refer to his unwavering work ethic.

As a high school junior, Stroud was able to dunk and became the school's top shooting guard. While he enjoyed the sport, football was his first passion.

He made amends with his father

Stroud told The Pivot podcast that his adolescence was a "roller coaster" and he had gone through "hell and back."

"My pops, he was my best friend, to have your best friend be snatched like that, it was tough," he said. "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?"

Kimberly told SI that the last time her son saw his father was around 2014 or 2015. He was extremely close with his dad before Coleridge began to "show up in spurts" and be gone for weeks at a time. (Coleridge explained in a 2018 appeal that around that time, after 20 years of sobriety from drugs, he had relapsed.) Stroud ignored his father's calls and communication from prison until about 2020, when they began to talk intermittently. In 2022, after the Heisman Trophy ceremony, his father called him and Stroud forgave him.

"When I talk to him now, I don't hold any ill will," he told The Pivot. "I told him, 'I love you.' He made his mistakes. I've made mine. It's not about the bad."

Stroud has also begun using his platform to advocate for criminal justice reform. In February 2023, the quarterback spoke about his family's experience at a dinner with vocal prison reform advocate Kim Kardashian and the REFORM Alliance, an organization that advocates for changes in policy and culture to reduce crime and recidivism, per the Columbus Dispatch.

His faith is important to him

Stroud has a religious background — when he was younger, his father was a pastor, and he began attending church again in college, he told The Lantern. He's said he believes that not playing high school football until his junior year was part of "God's plan." "God was trying to teach me to sit down, teach me perseverance and to just wait," he told 24/7 Sports.

"I don't know what I would've done if everything was just given to me. I took it as a blessing more than a curse," he added.

Stroud also said that, despite the stress at home and feeling unsure of his own skill, football "was what God called me to do, so I just kept going."