When the NFL Draft gets underway in April, it’s entirely possible that Alabama quarterback Bryce Young and his Ohio State counterpart, C.J. Stroud will be the first two names called. If nothing else, both will be off the board early. And if all goes according to plan from there, they will have years of NFL showdowns ahead of them. But on Saturday, they had a showdown elsewhere.
Young and Stroud were both in attendance at Salt Lake City’s Vivint Arena, taking in Saturday night’s NBA game between the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz. After the first quarter, the two were invited onto the floor to have a shooting competition.
CJ Stroud and Bryce Young just had a shooting contest at the Jazz-Mavs game. pic.twitter.com/nwQg0wa30M
— Ryan Miller (@millerjryan) January 29, 2023
Tonight’s post-1Q pop-a-shot competition at the Jazz game featured star quarterbacks and presumptive top-10 NFL Draft picks Bryce Young and CJ Stroud … for reasons. pic.twitter.com/ne7CmBEvTi
— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) January 29, 2023
Basketball fans were confused about why the two future NFL signal callers were showing off their skills on the hardwood.
Honestly the most confused I've been in a while: Why are Ohio State QB CJ Stroud and Alabama QB Bryce Young shooting 3-pointers during the break in this Mavs-Jazz game in Salt Lake City?
Like for real, does anyone have an answer to this?
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) January 29, 2023
Dude, the top two QB prospects in this years draft Bryce Young and CJ Stroud were straight up doing shooting competitions. Wild (Stroud won) pic.twitter.com/ZIlmAZa3ex
— Rick (@Eric18utah) January 29, 2023
For some inexplicable reason, they just had college football stars CJ Stroud and Bryce Young in a 3-point shooting contest after the first quarter 🤷🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/Ho9GFJUwek
— Kristen Kwan (@BlockInTheBack) January 29, 2023
This is weird, Bryce Young (Alabama) and CJ Stroud (Ohio State) are having a shooting contest at the @utahjazz game.
Probably the top two QB’s drafted this year.
Also, Mike Conley and Collin Sexton rivalry? pic.twitter.com/PuG3cjVTT0
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) January 29, 2023
The shootout was close. Stroud was victorious, but Young’s had a chance to tie things up with the final shot. But while it was close, we can’t say that the shooting contest was a particularly good one, given that the pair made a combined three shots.
At the very least, both Stroud and Young know for sure now that they picked the right sports.
[Ryan Miller, Photo Credit: Eric Walden]