Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud said Tuesday that Georgia finished second in the race to recruit him.
The two teams will face off in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at 8 p.m. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The winner will advance to the College Football Playoff Championship game.
“It was close, but I’m glad where I went, and I’ll ride with that until I die,” the two-time Heisman Trophy finalist said.
Stroud said he took an official visit to Athens and that some of Georgia’s coaches made an at-home visit to his residence in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Stroud signed with the Buckeyes as part of the 2020 recruiting class.
“I loved his mom, man,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “What a tremendous woman. She’s awesome. He has a really good disposition about him. He’s not real high, not real low, not real emotional. He keeps a really level head, which to me at quarterback is one of the No. 1 qualities you can find.”
Stroud said he and Smart reconnected at the Heisman Trophy awards ceremony in New York two weeks ago.
“He’s a good dude, definitely a good coach,” Stroud said. “Come around a full 360 to be playing with them now.”
Though it may pain Bulldogs supporters, Stroud seems to have made the right choice. He enters the Peach Bowl with 3,340 passing yards. He is top-five this season in FBS in five categories:
- Touchdowns (T-1st, 37)
- Passing efficiency (1st, 176.3)
- Yards per attempt (3rd, 9.4)
- Completions of at least 30 yards (2nd, 29)
- Yards per completion (5th, 14.21)
“I enjoyed my time up there, met some of the players, and I think some of them still play for them now,” he said. “So I have respect for them, and I think they have respect for me.”
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