in his right mind. And a lot of times people who have substance abuse issues and things like that, they don’t need jail, they need rehab and help.”

Stroud has joined with billionaire Michael Rubin’s REFORM Alliance to help promote prison reform and donned cleats dedicated to the cause during the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats game late last year.

While Stroud’s thoughts are often with his father, when they talk, his father urges him to focus on football and his life outside instead of what he’s dealing with in prison.

“He knows that I have a lot on my plate, and he respects that, and he just likes to be filled in on what’s going on,” Stroud said. “I talk to him about stuff I probably don’t talk to a lot of people about just because he’s my dad. He knows me for real.”

When Stroud was at Ohio State, most of his games were on national network television so his dad — or Pops, as he calls him — got to watch him play often.

Most people, the NFL schedule-makers among them, figured the Texans were in for another bad season so they weren’t given any nationally televised games this season. For the elder Stroud, that meant he couldn’t watch his namesake play live. He could only catch highlights later or check stats to see his son’s progress in a season where he’s thrown for 3,844 yards with 21 touchdowns and just five interceptions despite missing two games with a concussion.

But that changed this week after Houston’s game at Indianapolis was moved from the early slot on Sunday to a nationally televised prime time game with a playoff spot on the line.

For now, that’s the only way his father will get to watch Stroud play. But the quarterback has gotten positive reports from lawyers working on his father’s case who believe they’ll eventually get his sentence reduced.

“They’re really hopeful,” he said. “It’s been (everything) from getting out really soon or getting the sentence cut more than three quarters. So, it should be pretty soon.”

He refuses to accept that he’ll never be able to gaze into the stands and see his dad sitting there cheering him on.

“I don’t really think like that,” he said. “I think my dad can come watch me play soon. That’s how I’m thinking, positively. And I know by the glory of God and his grace we’ll be seeing each other soon. And that’s the hope. That’s what I’m praying for.”