C.J. Stroud pays tribute to Ohio State football's Heisman Trophy winners with custom suit
Joey Kaufman
NEW YORK — Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud is giving a nod to the school’s Heisman Trophy winners.
The lining of his suit jacket for Saturday night’s ceremony is filled with images of the six former Buckeyes who captured college football’s most prestigious player of the year award. Each of their photos is placed within scarlet Block “O” logos.
Stroud said the idea came from Rick Soto, a tailor in Austin, Texas, who designed the custom navy pinstripe suit.
“He hooked me up,” Stroud said. “I like it a lot.”
Over this weekend, Stroud has also interacted with a couple of those former winners for the first time.
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He met former tailback and two-time winner Archie Griffin on Friday night and spoke with former quarterback Troy Smith on Saturday morning.
Smith is the last Ohio State player to win the Heisman, doing so in 2006. Other former quarterbacks such as Justin Fields and Dwayne Haskins were up for the award in recent seasons, but both finished in third in the final voting.
“He’s super passionate,” Stroud said of meeting Smith. “He loves Ohio State. He loves the game of football. He had nothing but positive things to say. I really appreciate him giving up the time to talk to me about how I feel being up here and giving me feedback on how to hone in everything that I’m doing here.
“I’m definitely blessed to have the brotherhood that we have at Ohio State and hope we continue the legacy.”
The rest of the list of Heisman Trophy winners from Ohio State include running back Eddie George (1995), halfback Howard Cassady (1955), halfback Vic Janowicz (1950) and quarterback Les Horvath (1944)
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.