Desmond Howard Clears The Air On The Handshake Controversy With C.J. Stroud

Given that Caleb Williams was a lock to win the Heisman Trophy heading into the ceremony, the most noteworthy thing to come out of the night was Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud not shaking hands with Desmond Howard.

With Howard being a Michigan man, college football fans immediately started to wonder if Stroud avoided shaking his hand on purpose. Howard was also a bit critical about Stroud going into the season, which added another layer to the alleged drama.

Unfortunately, there is no drama between Stroud and the 1991 Heisman winner.

Howard recently spoke with Sports Illustrated and explained the entire situation noting that Stroud didn't shake the hands of a few other former Heisman winners either.

“It was absolutely nothing,” Howard explained. “RGIII was next to me. They didn’t shake hands. Billy Sims was next to RGIII. They didn’t shake hands. So, there are three people, but the one person that they chose to focus on was the guy who went to Michigan."

"So, I get it, I understand. People need that. Negativity sells. So, they just do what they got to do, it’s no problem.

Interestingly enough, Howard pinned a bit of the blame back on Stroud while sounding somewhat disappointed the Ohio State quarterback hasn't cleared the air himself.

“But, it’s really funny because Stroud could just shut the whole thing down by sending out a tweet saying that we shook hands probably three times that night,” Desmond Howard explained. “After that segment was over and everyone was on stage, we all shook hands. People don’t want to hear that, right?”

In the grand scheme of things, this is a non-story, but since it's an Ohio State player and a Michigan man involved it was put under the college football microscope.