Ryan Day explains why Cade Stover move back to tight end is best fit for Buckeyes

Cade Stover had an interesting 2021 season. He was in his second year as a tight end, but had to move to linebacker in the Rose Bowl because Ohio State was down so many players.

Now, he’s moving back to tight end, and Ryan Day said that’s the best fit for the Buckeyes this season.

In that Rose Bowl game, he had six tackles as Ohio State defeated Utah in a shootout for the ages. But with the linebacker room back to full strength, he’s heading back to the offensive side of the ball — and Day said that’s a good thing.

“Cade, I think, always saw himself as a linebacker growing up and when he came here,” Day said. “And then he put a whole year of work into playing tight end, and the way it played out in the Rose Bowl is we were down some linebackers and I think when he got over there, he realized that he loves being over there at linebacker because he can play with that edge. So at the end of the day, it was really up to him. Same thing when Steele [Chambers] went over to defense. We want guys to own it.

“Moving forward, he’s got a huge ceiling at tight end. I think when you look at the work that he’s put in the past year and his skill set, 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. And he can do that. He’s strong, he’s powerful, he’s really athletic, he’s got really good ball skills. He was a really good high school basketball player. He’s back over at tight end and had a good couple practices.”

Jim Knowles discusses logjam of talent in Ohio State linebacker room

Through spring ball, Jim Knowles is getting to know his linebacker room at Ohio State. This week, he addressed his logjam of talent — which might not necessarily be a bad thing.

Ohio State returns quite a group of linebackers this coming season, and that could make Knowles’ job tough as he takes over for Kerry Coombs as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator. Through spring ball, his goal is to see what they can do before he makes any decisions.

“You have to be able to make an assessment,” Knowles said. “In order to make an assessment, you’ve got to get the guys repetitions. And there’s a lot of talent, but none of it is completely proven, right? Because you have guys all competing for positions. So that’s where you want to take guys and maybe move them to other positions just to get a chance to look at them.”