The Ohio State football team is in the midst of its annual spring practice and with it, there are quite a few observations and nuggets to take away each time the media gets an opportunity to get a peek behind the curtain at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
One of those came this week and stood out like a blistered and bruised thumb when Cade Stover began to get reps with the tight ends Tuesday.
Just so you are aware why this is big news if you haven’t followed his career path, Stover was moved from tight end to linebacker for the Rose Bowl to plug in some talent and depth at a position that lacked both. At the time, it looked like a move that would stick. Stover was impactful in the victory over Utah out in Pasadena and was recruited as a linebacker out of high school.
However, according to head coach Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, despite having a love affair with the linebacker position, Stover expressed interest in moving back to tight end — the second time in his career he has done so.
“At the end of the day, it was really up to him,” Day told reporters Tuesday. “And I think he saw just moving forward, he’s got a huge ceiling at tight end. I think when you look at the work he’s put in the past year and his skill set, he’s got a chance to be a really good tight end. And I think the thing he would tell you is he wants to bring that same defensive mentality to the offense — and he can do that. He’s strong, he’s powerful, he’s really athletic — got really good ball skills — was a really good high school basketball player. So he’s back over at tight end and had a good couple of practices.”
That doesn’t mean this move will be permanent, but there is a clear opportunity at tight end. Gone is Jeremy Ruckert with Mitch Rossi being the only real returning experience there. The linebacking corps is going through a refurbishment with new faces as well, so we shouldn’t count out a move back to defense.
We’ll keep an eye on where Stover fits and where his skill set best aligns with this group as spring, summer, and fall camp continues.