\nC.J. would often have to open the storage facility during after-hours for unit renters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn\u2019t always proud to have people over,\u201d says Verti. \u201cHe didn\u2019t have the money or the house that most people did.\u201d<\/p>\n
C.J. wasn\u2019t afraid to admit it. In a lighthearted way, he\u2019d tell friends and teachers at his school, \u201cI\u2019m broke,\u201d remembers Kelli Cardenas, his guidance counselor at Rancho Cucamonga.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember one time driving with my kids in Upland,\u201d says Cardenas. \u201cI pointed out the storage unit, \u2018That\u2019s where C.J. lives.\u2019 My kids couldn\u2019t believe it. They saw C.J. as this big star.\u201d<\/p>\n\nC.J. didn\u2019t seem to care. He never really asked for much, his mother says. In fact, Kimberly recalls one game in which she noticed her son closing one eye to throw passes. He later told her that one of his contact lenses had worn out and he was afraid to ask her to buy more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Why didn\u2019t you tell me!?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018You have enough on your plate!\u2019\u201d Later on, coaches raised money to buy C.J. a year\u2019s worth of lenses. \u201cIt took a village,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
C.J. wasn\u2019t like a lot of prized quarterback recruits. He didn\u2019t start as a freshman or a sophomore, biding his time behind a more veteran quarterback. He\u2019d have bad days, both for football and family reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAt school, he wasn\u2019t playing. At home, his father was gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up without my father,\u201d says Tony Wilson, an assistant coach at Rancho Cucamonga who grew close to both C.J. and Kimberly. \u201cTo have a father and then not have him, that\u2019s even worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
C.J. persevered, remained at the school and started as a junior and senior, piling up yards, touchdowns and scholarship offers. Before his senior season, Ohio State coach Ryan Day called him with an offer that brought him to his knees and to tears.<\/p>\n\nThe powerhouse programs had finally found this gem tucked in Southern California.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t have a lot of clothes or shoes. He didn\u2019t have the private QB coach or the 7-on-7 teams,\u201d says Verti. \u201cHe didn\u2019t have extra protein shakes or energy drinks. He did it all himself. He watched YouTube clips on Drew Brees and made himself better.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more than five years, C.J. Stroud did not speak to his father. <\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t talk publicly or privately about him, either. Only in the past several months has C.J. decided to discuss Coleridge Bernard Stroud III. During a wide-ranging interview with The Pivot<\/em> podcast, he detailed the hurdles of his life, many of them brought upon by a man that he refers to as \u201cPop.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nC.J. described his life as a \u201croller coaster\u201d and as having endured \u201chell and back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy pops, he was my best friend, to have your best friend be snatched like that, it was tough,\u201d he said. \u201cI just look at the things my dad did that were positive, but for a while, I wasn\u2019t like that. I hated my pops, for real. Like man, how could you leave me like that?\u201d<\/p>\n\nC.J. and his father were so close that Coleridge, while speaking on the pulpit as a pastor, would involve his son in his sermons, often asking him to speak to the congregation himself.<\/p>\n
The last time C.J. saw his dad was either 2014 or \u201915, Kimberly says. Coleridge would show up in spurts and then be gone again for weeks at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen C.J. was in seventh and eighth grade, we really saw the change. [Coleridge would] come and look terrible and C.J. \u2026\u201d Kimberly pauses, \u201cit made him feel so bad. When his dad would come, C.J. would leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
C.J. ignored calls, messages and any other communication from the prison\u2014until somewhat recently. Roughly two years ago, C.J. and his father spoke by phone. They now talk intermittently.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAfter the 2022 Heisman Trophy ceremony, where Stroud finished third in the voting, Coleridge called his son, and they talked for a while, Kimberly recalls. Son has forgiven father.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I talk to him now, I don\u2019t hold any ill will,\u201d C.J. said on The Pivot<\/em>. \u201cI told him, \u2018I love you.\u2019 He made his mistakes. I\u2019ve made mine. It\u2019s not about the bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\nAfter he completes this season and before he begins preparing for the NFL draft\u2014he\u2019s projected as a first-round pick when he declares, as many expect\u2014C.J. will visit his father in person at Folsom State Prison, Kimberly says.<\/p>\n
It will be a long-awaited, complicated and possibly awkward reunion of son and father. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s so proud of C.J.,\u201d Kimberly says. \u201cAfter the Heisman [ceremony], C.J. is sitting there disappointed in the car, and his dad calls and they talked. At that time, that\u2019s when I knew he forgave his dad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimberly believes that her ex-husband will be released from prison earlier than expected. His life sentence was tied to California\u2019s Three Strikes law. He\u2019s hired an attorney who is fighting for his release by arguing that at least one of his past convictions\u2014his second strike\u2014should be dismissed, because it was not a violent act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThey are projecting that he will be released,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of the filing and paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, 2,500 miles across the country here in Atlanta, C.J. Stroud is preparing for the biggest game of his life. It follows the second-biggest game of his life, when the Buckeyes lost at home to Michigan, 45\u201323, in a stunning upset that triggered outrage from fans.<\/p>\n\nC.J. received death threats, his mother says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really look, but people have the audacity to call and talk to me and tell me what people say,\u201d C.J. said Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s the nature of the beast. You accept the good with the bad. I thank God for a second chance at this game. We deserve to be here regardless of what happened that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
\nC.J. poses for a picture with his mother Kimberly and his sister Ciara.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of the Stroud Family<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nAs C.J. spoke to reporters at media day, his mother, sister and brother Asmar boarded a cross-country flight to watch him play Saturday night when the No. 4 seed Buckeyes (11\u20131) meet the No. 1 seed Georgia Bulldogs (13\u20130). The winner plays in the national championship game at SoFi Stadium, a sparkling new $6 billion venue that sits about 50 miles from C.J.’s home.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGeorgia, interestingly enough, finished second among his options during the recruiting process. C.J. visited Athens, and coach Kirby Smart visited his home in Upland, walking into that tiny apartment above the storage facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey all came to the storage facility,\u201d Kimberly says with a chuckle, now able to laugh about it. \u201cI told them, \u2018I know this is a first for you! Bet you\u2019ve never been to a storage facility to visit a player!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\nMost of them smiled back at her, \u201cMa\u2019am, we\u2019ve seen a lot. But never this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n