Ohio State's C.J. Stroud Wins Big Ten Offensive Player, Freshman of the Year Awards

AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

With big shoes to fill as Justin Fields' replacement, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud made history Wednesday. 

Stroud became the first Big Ten player ever to win the conference's Offensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Quarterback of the Year awards in the same season:

Stroud originally committed to Ohio State in December 2019. He was a highly regarded prospect in the 2020 recruiting class. 247Sports composite rankings had him as a 4-star prospect and the No. 42 overall player with offers from Georgia, Michigan and Baylor, among others. 

Fields set an incredibly high bar for the Buckeyes at quarterback. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2019 after throwing for 3,273 yards, running for 484 yards and accounting for 51 total touchdowns. 

In the six-game 2020 season, Fields completed 70.2 percent of his pass attempts for 2,100 yards and 22 touchdowns. The Buckeyes made the College Football Playoff in both years with him starting under center. 

Stroud had no problems living up to the standard set by his predecessor. The California native started 11 games, ranking fifth in the nation in passing touchdowns (38), sixth in completion percentage (70.9) and seventh in passing yards (3,862). 

Ohio State's offense leads the nation in scoring with 45.5 points per game. It didn't score fewer than 26 points in any of its 12 games during the regular season. 

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The Buckeyes did miss out on the Big Ten Championship Game thanks to Saturday's 42-27 loss to Michigan and have dropped to No. 7 in the latest playoff rankings, but they have already won at least 10 games for the 15th time in the past 17 seasons (only eight games played total in 2020 amid COVID-19 pandemic).