Call him a homer, but former Ohio State star Troy Smith is projecting this year’s Heisman Trophy winner to come from his alma mater.
Smith, who won the 2006 Heisman and is the last Buckeye to take home college football’s most coveted award, threw his support behind OSU starting quarterback C.J. Stroud for this year’s honor.
Smith told Eleven Warriors he was “ready” for Ohio State’s Heisman drought to end last year and “would love to have another Heisman brother” in Stroud.
“He throws probably the best-looking spiral in the game right now collegiately. To me, his decision-making is a cut above everybody else,” Smith said of Stroud. “We’ve been blessed. Obviously, he’s been an incredible student of the game, sitting behind certain guys and learning. But now it is his time, and all of the stars are aligning, and it looks tremendously bright as a Buckeye fan and for his future, and I got nothing but good thoughts and prayers for him approaching everything with the season, and how he’s going to be a professional as well.”
Stroud had a fantastic 2021 season, his first as a starter, but ultimately finished fourth in the Heisman voting. Alabama’s Bryce Young won the award.
Stroud and Young are projected as the two most-likely winners this season. The Heisman race begins this weekend, with Alabama facing Utah State and Ohio State hosting Notre Dame.