'Gold' tight ends give Keenan Bailey plenty of depth for Buckeyes
COLUMBUS — Cade Stover played too much for Ohio State last season.
Stover averaged 58 snaps per game for the Buckeyes a year ago, and according to first-year tight ends coach Keenan Bailey, that’s simply too many.
And with Gee Scott Jr. and Joe Royer, a pair of fourth-year tight ends with plenty of experience, back for another year, Ohio State feels it has the needed depth to give Stover a breather every now and then without giving up too much production.
That’s how this unit feels heading into the middle portion of August training camp. Bailey feels really good about his position group right now, especially after the offseason work they put in.
“I do,” Bailey told the media Wednesday after practice, the 12th practice of the month for the Buckeyes. “We do the summer workouts and Coach Mick ranks guys as far as gold, and gold is the top tier. Those are guys that if we want to hit all our goals, we need those guys to rely on. I had four in my room.
“So we’ve got guys I think I could rely on in all capacities.”
Stover was the obvious gold-standard for the tight ends room. He was a team captain last year because of his presence both on and off the field. He projects to be a captain yet again for this edition of Ohio State. But it was the other three gold-tiered Buckeyes tight ends who will make the difference for this unit.
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Scott was a gold member this offseason. So was Royer. Oh, and walk-on tight end Patrick Gurd cracked the gold list, as well. That gives Ohio State at least four trustworthy options, and that’s not even mentioning freshman Jelani Thurman, who is impressing through camp but still needs to prove himself.
Stover shouldn’t need to play 58 snaps per game again this season.
“We’ve got enough depth that I could put guys out there to spell them,” Bailey said. ”Cade deserves, and his team deserves, and his team needs, Cade at his best later in the year, right? And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Of course, Lettermen Row’s Spencer Holbrook, Andy Backstrom and Tim May were back inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as Lettermen Row heard from the Ohio State tight ends on Wednesday. The crew breaks down what it heard Wednesday — the 12th practice of camp for the program this August. Watch here or on the Lettermen Row Youtube channel, and make sure to subscribe to that channel for more Buckeyes breakdown videos.
