Ohio State’s Stroud grateful for opportunity to represent team, home state at Heisman ceremony

Stroud is one of four players invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York City on Saturday night. He’ll be joined in the Big Apple by Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young and Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.

Stroud was briefly considered by some the front-runner for the award after the Buckeyes bombed Michigan State on Nov. 20, but Hutchinson began to build buzz after sacking Stroud three times in the Wolverines’ win over Ohio State a week later.

Young, a California native like Stroud, trumped them both by leading the Crimson Tide to a dominant win over then-No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game last weekend and is considered the favorite.

“Coming into the season I didn’t really have any expectations,” said Stroud, a 2020 recruit who redshirted last season. “I just wanted to play well and win games really. I feel like if you do those things, especially with the teammates I have, it’s a possibility to be a Heisman finalist and the best quarterback in the Big Ten so I’m truly blessed to even have the opportunity.”

Stroud has already been named the Big Ten offensive player, quarterback and freshman of the year after he led Ohio State to No. 1 in the country in points and yards per game.

He eclipsed 400 yards passing four times this season, and he will enter the Rose Bowl with a school-record pass efficiency mark (182.2), completion percentage (70.9) and yards per game average (351.1).

Head coach Ryan Day is not one to openly campaign for national awards for his players, but he endorsed Stroud on Sunday.

“I think his play speaks for itself and what he did this year,” Day said. “I think he really grew, and the way he played midway through the year and toward the end was very, very good. We didn’t win the last game obviously, but there were some games that he was only in there for the first half of some of them, so maybe his numbers would have been a little higher if he had played in all those games. But I thought he really played well, and I think he deserves to be in New York.”

Stroud is the sixth Buckeye to finish in the top five of the Heisman voting since 2012.

Wayne High School grad Braxton Miller finished fifth in 2012 (and ninth a year later), J.T. Barrett was fifth in ‘14, Dwayne Haskins was third in 2018 and in 2019 Justin Fields finished third while Chase Young was fourth.

Ohio State has had a top 10 finisher four years in a row, which also happened from 2012-15.

Troy Smith (2006) is still the last player from Ohio State or the Big Ten to win the Heisman. He is also the only full-time quarterback from the Big Ten to win the award.

HOW TO WATCH

Saturday: Heisman Trophy Ceremony, 8 p.m., ESPN