C. J. Stroud is having the time of his life right now. Deemed as one of the best rookie quarterbacks ever, C. J. Stroud plays for the Houston Texans. He was one of the most exciting prospects in college football while attending The University of Ohio State. The NFL rookie quarterback was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in two consecutive seasons, the highest honor in college football. Stroud entered the national spotlight in the 2021 season with a remarkable showing, being named to the Big Ten Freshman of the Week six times.
At the conclusion of the 2021 season, Stroud, a first-team All-Big Ten member, was one of the best players in college football. With a record-breaking performance in the Rose Bowl in which he broke the record for most yards thrown as well as tied the number of touchdown passes. The 2022 season was more of the same greatness from Stroud as he finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting, finishing with a 10-2 record. Stroud set the conference record for the most games with 6 passing touchdowns in a career.
Stroud has always credited his mother for his success and is a down-to-earth person because of her. Here is a look into the parents of one of the most exciting quarterbacks in the NFL right now.
CJ Stroud Parents
Kimberly and Coleridge Stroud are C. J. Stroud's parents. He was born to Kimberly and Coleridge Stroud on October 3, 2001, in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Stroud has credited his exemplary work ethic to his parents as they instilled it in him from a young age. Having suffered various setbacks throughout his life, with his father being incarcerated when he was just 13, Stroud gave a strong message in an interview a few years ago: "My life has been like a roller coaster. It’s been up and down. I’ve been through hell and back. I’ve been through so much in my life. I had to grow up early. I had to grow up really fast. "
CJ Stroud's Father
CJ Stroud's father is Coleridge Stroud. A pastor at the Life Application Christian Center that was headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, it was his father who first introduced the game of football to Stroud. However, the youngster's upbringing was remarkably difficult. C. J. Stroud's father received a 38-years-to-life sentence when he pleaded guilty for kidnapping, robbery and carjacking in a drug related incident under California's 3-strikes law in 2016. Stroud was just 13 years old back then.
Prior to that, from a young age, Stroud considered his father to be his best friend. Coleridge Stroud had turned his life around after his first sentence more than 20 years ago. Then, he had been convicted of a drug conviction but had since left that life behind. He became a pastor, a successful executive, a coach, and a father to Isiah, Asmar, Cieara and C. J.
The drugs returned to Coleridge's life when his children were young. A divorce further fuelled the spiral that eventually led him to prison. Understandably, Stroud shied away from speaking about his father for a long time, but he wants to be an advocate for others who may be going through troubled childhoods.
"My pops, he was my best friend, to have your best friend be snatched like that, it was tough… It's a lot that went through it, but 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… He changed his life for 25 years and was past it, I grew up in church like Bijan Robinson. I was a pastor's son… 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? As I became an adult, I realized the stress it is on Black men to uphold the household. A lot of people don't care about us. Even some people in your own house don't care. You have a job to do, I'm 20 years old, I'm still young, but that's my job in my house. And that's a lot of stress. If I didn't have God in my life, I don't know where I'd be. "
CJ Stroud's Mother
Kimberly Stroud is the mother of C. J. Stroud. She was left to raise four kids by herself after her husband's imprisonment. Struggling to meet ends, the family had to downsize houses four times. "It sucked. But now it teaches me that money really doesn't matter. Money really isn't an object to me because it can be gone in the blink of an eye, which I think is a positive (thing to understand). "
Even through the adversities, Stroud became a two-sport star at Rancho Cucamonga High School in football and basketball. He went on to be picked 2nd overall in the 2023 NFL Draft and now plays as the starting quarterback for the Houston Texans. Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh once came and watched an entire game of his. Georgia made an offer for him. But it was Ryan Day’s Ohio State football program that Stroud chose. Kim was instrumental in getting him there, but she acknowledges that she didn’t do it by herself.
"We had a lot of support from a lot of different coaches on travel-ball teams. It took a village. Because he was so talented, there were so many people that kind of rallied around him and kept him involved. There were times where I couldn’t pay for certain equipment that he needed, but they would give C.J. the equipment anyway. But it was a hard time for CJ from seventh grade into high school. "
Oddly enough, Stroud has athletic gene ties to one of the best athletes of all time. One of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time, Jim Thorpe, who has a college football award in his name, is a distant ancestor from Stroud's mother's side of the family.
