As the NFL season approaches, Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud sat down with Greg Olsen to reflect on his journey, leadership and advice for young athletes. Stroud, the 2nd overall draft pick in 2023, has earned praise for his calm demeanor and leadership skills both on and off the field.
Stroud is the fourth guest in an impressive lineup for the Youth Inc. podcast. In the last episode, Olsen spoke with Stroud’s former head coach at Ohio State, Ryan Day. Watch the full episode here.
A list of the Youth Inc. podcast guests including Tom Brady, Malcolm Gladwell and Dr. Michael Gervais, Ryan Day, CJ Stroud, Barstool Big Cat, and Missy Franklin
Stroud spoke strongly about the benefits of being a multi-sport athlete, rather than specializing too early.
“Different sports invite different types of movements, different types of fluidity and different types of mobilities to be able to be best at the sport you ultimately get to pick in the end.
“Baseball could help with your hand-eye coordination, while football helps with your physicality, basketball helps with your footwork, soccer helps with your footwork and agility and stamina. And that can all play together whenever you decide to pick one sport.”
For young athletes facing pressure to specialize early, Stroud’s message was clear:
“If your goal is to be a pro athlete pre-teen, that shouldn’t be a goal.
"You’re still developing not only as an athlete, but as a person and as a human being.”
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Leadership Qualities
Stroud’s leadership skills were built on a foundation of family and faith. “Our foundation, our core, was our faith," he said. "That was what me and my family did. We served our community, we served people as much as possible. That was the standard and the start of the leadership side of me.”
Stroud reflected on the importance of relationships with teammates, especially with those who come from different backgrounds.
“Time plus understanding," he said. "The more time you can spend with somebody while being vulnerable and the understanding with that time of why the person is the way they are and accepting them for who they are breeds a great relationship.”
Relationships like these set the standard for his style of leadership.
Olsen added, “Everyone focuses so much on the football. But so often, the football is a lot better when all of the personal stuff is better.”
Coaching
For Stroud, mutual understanding is the most important thing in a player-coach relationship.
Stroud recalled not getting along with his former coach, Ryan Day, because they didn’t spend the time to understand one another.
“A lot of it was just miscommunication," Stroud said. "But one day out of nowhere he called me into his office and we just had a talk for probably 6 or 7 hours … At the time we really didn’t get along.
"After that our relationship has been great ever since. I consider him not only a great coach of mine, but a father figure, somebody who I look at as a friend, a brother.”
Olsen echoed that idea: “I can’t coach you the best until I know you the best.
"Some kids you need to get on, other kids don’t respond to that. So getting to know what buttons to push, what levers to pull, that’s kind of the art and the beauty of coaching in my mind.”
Stroud on Making Difficult Decisions
“As humans we run away from uncomfortable situations and pain, but that’s what breeds us to be better,” Stroud said.
For Stroud, choosing Ohio State was one of those moments:
“There is a time for every season," he said. "At this time, there was a time for a season of taking a step into blind faith.
"I had to make a decision as a man to be out of my comfort zone.”
Stroud’s Journey at Ohio State
From being on top of the world during recruiting to the bottom of the totem pole his freshman season, Stroud didn’t understand the plan they had for him at Ohio State.
He recalled this advice from his former coach, Tony Alford: “You would be foolish if you left this opportunity," Stroud said. "Sometimes development feels like demotion but it is a process of you becoming great.”
Stroud took that to heart.
“Let me try to not be perfect and just attack the situation,” he said.
Stroud ultimately won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022, Big Ten Quarterback of the Year in 2021 and 2022, Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2021, and First-team All-Big Ten in 2021 and 2022. In 2023 he was the 2nd overall draft pick by the Houston Texans.
Stroud’s Advice to Young Athletes
"The goal should be being a better person, being better at discipline, learning teammate etiquette, learning sportsmanship," he said. "These are things that got me to the NFL.
“It if it too easy, don’t do it. Because there is nothing rewarding to easy… You have to understand that it takes time to be great.
“The days when I didn’t want to do it… those are the reasons why I made it.
“You have to have some type of blind faith. You have to have some type of trust in yourself and you have to have some grit to you.”
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