Away from the din of cocktails and chatter near the lobby of the shiny-new Loews Kansas City Hotel, an elevator zoomed C.J. Stroud up to his room. It was the night of April 27, hours after the Houston Texans selected Stroud with the No. 2 pick of the 2023 NFL draft.
Priest Brooks, his youth football coach in California's Inland Empire, wanted a moment with Stroud. Brooks had been alongside the Ohio State quarterback for the bulk of this journey and had a list of things he wanted to say. He addressed Stroud's impending NFL stardom, which at the time might have seemed presumptuous.