CJ Stroud's Dad Remains in Prison, But His Mom Kim Has Been His Rock

As the face of the Ohio State Buckeyes the last two seasons, C.J. Stroud was a star. OSU only lost two games each of those seasons, dropping "The Game" against Michigan each season. But make no mistake about it, Stroud has all the makings of an NFL quarterback, which is why he was a top 5 Heisman Trophy finalist twice, invited to the All-American Bowl and finished his career with more than 8,000 passing yards and 86 touchdowns. Next on the American football player's list? Being named NFL MVP.

Stroud is one of the favorites to be picked first overall in the 2023 NFL Draft alongside Bryce Young, especially if he delivers a strong performance at Ohio State's Pro Day. Considering his upbringing, this is all more than impressive. While Stroud was busy turning himself into a blue chip prospect in high school who courted offers from the likes of Ohio State and Michigan, he was doing it without his dad. Stroud's father went to prison while Stroud was still in middle school, leaving him, his mom and his three siblings to rely on each other.

Years later, as he's lighting up NCAA defenses, Stroud is able to look back and be proud of where he is.

CJ Stroud's Parents: The Tragic Tale of His Father

Stroud grew up the youngest of four kids. His early life was centered on church life at the Life Application Christian Center in Rancho Cucamonga, California, an hour outside of Los Angeles where his father, Coleridge Bernard Stroud, was a pastor. His mother, Kimberly Stroud, was the first lady of the church.

C.J. Stroud's father, whom Stroud is named after (officially, Coleridge Bernard Stroud IV), was the first to put a ball in his son's hands when he was 5. He considered his father his best friend before he was sent to prison — for a second time — while Stroud was still in middle school.

At 13, CJ Stroud?s dad was imprisoned & his family left in financial ruin. They lived at a storage facility & couldn?t afford him new cleats or contacts.

A decade later, he bought his mom a house thru NIL, will be a 1st round pick & forgave his father.https://t.co/0lVNqXGnGW pic.twitter.com/NBpnQG12J5

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 30, 2022

Coleridge Bernard Stroud had turned his life around after he was imprisoned 20 years earlier for a drug conviction. He was a pastor, a successful executive, a coach and a father to C.J's older brothers, Isaiah and Asmar, as well as his sister, Cieara, and, of course, C.J.

Drugs made their way back into Coleridge's life while his children were young. A divorce from Kim only fueled a spiral that led him back to prison. In 2016, he was convicted on charges of carjacking and kidnapping, according to The Columbus Dispatch. He's still being held in California's Folsom State Prison, where he isn't eligible for parole until 2040.

For a long time, C.J. Stroud refused to speak publicly about his father's struggles. The Stroud family was forced to live in a storage facility, and couldn't afford to buy cleats or contact lenses after Coleridge's arrest. But C.J. wants to be an advocate for those going through similar childhoods.

"It's definitely tough, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. My pops, he was my best friend, to have your best friend be snatched like that, it was tough. My mom tried her best to make sure we were straight, but a lot of times I was on my own. 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. It's not about the bad. Just being a Black man in this world, we're held for the bad stuff we do, not the blessings. My dad went to prison before he had us, before he met my mom, for six years. He changed his life for 25 years and was past it," he told 247Sports.

"I grew up in church like Bijan Robinson. I was a pastor's son. I didn't have a Christmas or Thanksgiving where I wasn't giving trying to help. 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."

Stroud said he has forgiven his father. He understand people make mistakes. He's also thankful for the time he and his father shared when he was young, because that's what helped make him the man and football player he is today.

Kim Stroud had a lot do with that too.

C.J. Stroud's Mother Kim Stepped Up

Coleridge's imprisonment left Kim to raise four kids by herself. She worked as a property manager, but money was tight. She had to downsize houses four different times.

"It sucked," Stroud told The Columbus Dispatch. "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)."

Still, Stroud became a two-sport star at Rancho Cucamonga High School in football and basketball. As a point guard, he led the Cougars to a CIF Division II runner-up finish in 2018. He also threw 47 touchdowns as a senior quarterback. And he realized his future was football. Michigan's Jim Harbaugh once came and watched an entire game of his. Georgia made an offer to 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," Kim told The Columbus Dispatch. "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 C.J. from seventh grade into high school."

Oddly enough, C.J. Stroud has athletic gene ties to one of the best athletes of all time. Jim Thorpe, who is one of the great Olympic athletes of all time and has a college football award in his name, is a distant ancestor on Kim's side of the family.

Regardless of Stroud's performance against Michigan last season, Ohio State still made the College Football Playoff, where they lost a one-point game to the national champion Georgia Bulldogs. Still, Stroud cemented himself in Ohio State University and Big Ten history, placing his name in a recent crop of great Ohio State quarterbacks like Justin Fields and Dwayne Haskins. If he's drafted first overall, he'll be the highest Ohio State draft pick since Orlando Pace was taken first by the St. Louis Rams in 1997.

It took a village to get him to this point, but C.J. Stroud is ready to return the favor and then some.

MORE: "The Game": Why Ohio State & Michigan's Rivalry Remains Unnamed