Report: Ohio State Buckeyes Fans Paid To Criticize Player

C.J. Stroud has started for Ohio State since Justin Fields entered the draft after the 2020 season. He led the Buckeyes to a Rose Bowl win in his first full year as a starter. They went to the College Football Playoff this past season and came a play away from beating the eventual national champion winner Georgia. Stroud said even that level of success didn’t make him immune from criticism.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, Stroud told Jim Rome that he stays off of social media throughout the season but that the quarterback would get pelted with direct messages on Venmo, a mobile payment service, where Ohio State Buckeyes fans would pay to criticize him during the season:

“For me and my teammates, man, being at Ohio State, if you have any source of social media or type of technology, Ohio State fans have it,” Stroud told radio host Jim Rome, per The Columbus Dispatch. “So, man, I was getting DMs—I don’t have social media throughout the season—I was getting DMs on Venmo, the money app, from fans telling me, ‘Play better,’ things like that.”

Are college football fans drunk venmoing?

The NFL won’t be any easier on a rookie quarterback. Stroud should seek advice from his former teammate Fields. The Chicago Bears quarterback put up record numbers on a bad offense. Many Bears fans wanted Fields to be traded after the season for another quarterback.