INGLEWOOD — As the Texans’ plane descended upon Los Angeles ahead of their Week 1 game against the Rams, C.J. Stroud’s eyes gazed downward. Landmarks that signified his childhood, fields he competed at throughout high school, caught his eye, he said.
Stroud is forever indebted to the area that raised him.
“I love where I’m from,” the Rancho Cucamonga native said in the hollows of SoFi Stadium after his first NFL game in LA. “California has really backed me in a lot of ways.”
For better or worse, Stroud’s local upbringing shaped him into a jaded 23-year-old, a third-year quarterback who might as well be a veteran after all he’s overcome. At 13, Stroud became the man of his household. In high school, a two-bedroom apartment at the storage facility his mom, Kim, worked at was where he and his family called home.
He didn’t ask for these obstacles, but they’re certainly at the core of his stoic nature — transcendent beyond the football field. Stroud was forced to mature quickly, a happenstance that’s helped him roll with the punches that NFL quarterbacks are inherently thrown.
On Sunday, that maturation process was present. With the Rams’ defense presenting a shell to prevent downfield throws, Stroud took what the defense gave him. He threw for 188 yards and ran for 32 more, including a nifty scramble that set up a go-ahead field goal just before halftime. Stroud, operating without wide receivers Christian Kirk and Tank Dell, and an offensive line that returned one starter, in right tackle Tytus Howard, kept Houston in striking distance.
“I’m really proud of the way C.J. played,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said. “He managed the offense well. Unfortunately, we came up short, but he made some nice plays under pressure.”
A gunslinging playmaker, Stroud didn’t deliver many signature highlights on Sunday. Not like the ones he made the last time he played in Los Angeles, when he threw for 573 yards and six touchdowns to lead Ohio State to a 48-45 win over Utah in the Rose Bowl. Not like the ones he made throughout his junior and senior years of high school when he took Rancho Cucamonga to the CIF Southern Section playoffs twice.
But that’s all part of his growth because those early years littered with success were also laden with forced throws and youthful mistakes.
For Stroud, football, life, none of it’s ever been smooth.
“It helped him know to take nothing for granted,” his high school football coach, Mark Verti, told the Southern California News Group. “He’s overcome obstacles, and every season he has to overcome obstacles, and that just kind of built his character up. He’s gone through things so tough that the things he has to go through in the NFL season aren’t quite as tough.”
Through just 33 games as an NFL starter, Stroud’s lived a career full of experiences. His arrival was celebrated as he paced all rookies with 23 passing touchdowns and ended Houston’s three-year playoff drought. His sophomore slump was ridiculed as his completion percentage dropped and his interception percentage rose. He has playoff scars. A Pro Bowl. A captain’s badge.
None of the lows get too low, the highs too high.
“He had to deal with a lot,” Verti said. “It was just him and his sister and mom at home. So, maybe that’s why he’s a good leader.”
In his third NFL season, Stroud is presenting an example of steadiness both on and off the field. He’s seeking a middle ground between stardom and slumping. He’s using his platform to uplift and inspire, returning to Rancho Cucamonga in the offseason, and creating an organization that supports single mothers, low-income families, and children of incarcerated parents.
Stroud’s tangible humility offsets his larger-than-life stature. It’s a persona constructed by the experiences and the community that raised him.
“I love LA, but I wish we got the dub here,” Stroud joked after the Texans’ 14-9 defeat.
Just another lesson from the place that gave him both nothing and everything.
