Cade Stover compares satisfaction of farming to football

Football is what Ohio State tight end Cade Stover loves to do. Especially when a big game is next on the schedule, with a top-10 showdown against Penn State occurring at the Shoe. A top target of quarterback Kyle McCord, Stover will be hoping to have another big game.

But if Stover is not on the football field, he is likely thinking about being on the farm. In what will be his job following his athletic career, farming is something Stover dreams of doing on a daily basis. His major is Agricultural Management and there is a comparison to football for the tight end.

“It’s almost like football in a way,” Stover said during Thursday’s episode of Andy Staples On3. “There’s so much preparation that goes into getting into the field, getting your equipment ready, getting your seed ordered, getting your fertilizer ordered. Getting ready to go but then you’re relying on — one, mother nature to be good to you. And if it is good to you, you’re so happy in the fall.

“But if it’s not, you’re like ‘Gosh, this is tough sometimes.’ Especially cattle-wise, seeing something be born and then leave the farm 1,600 pounds and you hand-fed that thing with a five-gallon bucket this whole time. It’s a very special, rewarding feeling.”

Stover is from Mansfield, OH, about an hour north of Columbus and an hour southwest of Akron. Basketball wound up being his first love from a sports perspective before ultimately deciding to play football at the college level. Now, farming has taken a huge part of his life, and admits he is jealous of his classmates for being able to work on 2,000-acre farms while enjoying college.

You could view Ohio State’s job this week against Penn State as similar to how Stover talks about growing crops. A game plan is going to be implemented at the beginning of the week in an attempt to take control of the Big Ten East and maybe the College Football Playoff race.

Everything needs to be organized and ordered throughout the week before having one day to execute it at a high-level. When you’re finished, you hopefully have a nice field of crops… or a ninth win in 10 games against Penn State since James Franklin took over in Happy Valley.

If Ohio State does wind up winning on Saturday, maybe Stover will give himself some extra time out in the field as a reward.