Ohio State's Cade Stover Has "Huge Ceiling" At Tight End After Switching Back From Linebacker

Stover spent the last two seasons at tight end but played linebacker for the Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl due to depth issues.

Although he started spring practice with the linebackers, Ohio State redshirt junior Cade Stover could be seen running through drills at tight end during Tuesday morning’s practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

It’s a position that Stover is already familiar with, as he caught five passes for 76 yards in 12 games as the backup to Jeremy Ruckert last season. But he switched to linebacker for the Rose Bowl due to a lack of depth at the position and finished the game with six tackles, leading some – including himself – to wonder if he should remain there on a full-time basis.

“Cade always saw himself as a linebacker growing up and when he came here,” head coach Ryan Day said after practice. “He loves being over there at linebacker because he can play with an edge, so – at the end of the day – it was really up to him.

“I think he saw, moving forward, he’s got a huge ceiling at tight end. When you look at the work he’s put in over the past year and his skillset, he’s got a chance to be a really good tight end. I think the thing he would tell you is he wants to bring that same defensive mentality to the offense. He can do that.”

While there’s a bit of a logjam at linebacker this spring thanks to the addition of Arizona State transfer DeaMonte Trayanum and early enrollees C.J. Hicks and Gabe Powers, as well as new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ 4-2-5 scheme, the decision to switch positions was ultimately Stover’s.

Not to mention, the opportunity to explore his best fit helped him develop into one of the team’s “premier” leaders, according to Day and offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, who noted he gained a tremendous amount of respect for Stover this offseason because of how he carried himself in the weight room and winter workouts.

“His leadership in the offseason was excellent,” Day said. “Unbelievable leadership, and now that he’s a veteran in the program, he has a voice and we want to put him in the best position to be successful.”

Stover has now changed positions four times throughout his career, as he started out at linebacker before transitioning to defensive end midway through his freshman year. He then spent the last two years at tight end before making the switch back to linebacker ahead of the Rose Bowl.

Now seemingly settled in at tight end, Stover’s path reminds Wilson of former Oklahoma tight end Brody Eldridge, who was recruited as a hybrid defensive end and linebacker but developed into a fourth-round pick on the offensive side of the ball.

“He’s got a little bit of that defensive (mindset),” said Wilson, who was the Sooners’ offensive coordinator from 2002-10. “(He was) from a small rural town, grew up on a farm, drove a truck, wore white t-shirts a lot. Cade’s not as good a blocker as that kid just yet, but I’d like to see him become that, and I think he can be a better route-runner and more complete than Brody.”

“That’s a high standard for me, but I’m chasing him to be there … I’m not going to tie his hands. I’m going to try to get him to play with the energy and passion he likes playing on defense. We’ve got to play under control, we can’t be reckless and have to have some fundamentals, but I’d like for him to play to his strengths.”

Stover decision helps fill a void left by the aforementioned Ruckert, who was a three-year starter at tight end and is projected to be a third- or fourth-round selection in next month’s NFL Draft.

The Buckeyes do return fifth-year senior Mitch Rossi, junior Gee Scott and redshirt sophomore Joe Royer at the position, but they either lack the experience (223 snaps in 2021) or physical build of the 6-foot-4 and 255-pound Stover, which made that position as unsettled as any on the roster.

“To say someone is doing something that is best for the team, it doesn’t work. It has to be best for the guy, so if Cade thinks it’s best for him to be there, I definitely think he has the skills to be very, very good,” Wilson said.“To me, if he just trusts his heart and that’s where his heart takes him, I think he’ll be good at it.”

Asked if this is the final position change for Stover, Day said, “You never say never.” But he added this will be a critical spring for the former four-star prospect from Lexington, Ohio, as he looks to carve out a starting role for the Buckeyes.

“Now that he’s been in there for a couple practices, we’ll continue to talk about it, but he needs to focus on something for a while in order to be successful,” Day said. “He can’t keep bouncing around.”

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