Striving to ‘get uncomfortable’ this offseason, Cade Stover is now in best shape of his life
COLUMBUS — There are two words that first-year Ohio State tight ends coach Keenan Bailey texts returning captain Cade Stover all the time. He even printed those words and put them on Stover’s desk.
“Get uncomfortable,” a passionate Bailey recited Wednesday.
“What does that mean? It means if I put Cade in a drill and he can exhale because he knows he’s good at it, shame on me, he should have went to the NFL. Seriously. If I have him run a route at practice that he’s comfortable doing, shame on me, he’s not getting better. You don’t get better when you’re comfortable.”
When Stover was deciding if he wanted to come back to Ohio State for a fifth year, Bailey developed a plan centered around making the tough-minded Stover uncomfortable.
That plan has been put to practice this offseason. It includes Stover doing 1-on-1 receiver drills against safeties for the first time in his Buckeyes career.
Sometimes those drills even pit Stover versus Ohio State’s top cornerbacks.
“Because if you can beat Denzel Burke at the line of scrimmage, you can beat a safety,” Bailey said. “He might hate it at the time, but he’s getting so much better.”
Stover added: “[Coach Bailey] does a really good job at that. … In practice, I’m doing stuff that, a lot of times, I’ve never done before in my life.”
Stover starred at linebacker in high school, emerging as Ohio’s Mr. Football and Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior. He began his Ohio State career at defensive end in 2019. Then he moved to tight end in 2020 before he switched back to the defensive side of the ball late in the 2021 season and even started at linebacker in the Rose Bowl.
One more change, a full-time return to tight end, ahead of the 2022 campaign did the trick.
Stover broke out last season. His 36 receptions for 406 receiving yards were the most by a Buckeyes tight end in 28 years.
“He shows up,” fellow Ohio State tight end Gee Scott Jr. said. “Fancy one-hand catches are great, don’t get me wrong. But being here over the years, one thing I’ve learned is we want the guy that’s going to show up day in and day out … and putting your best foot forward and being the best version of yourself.
“And I think one thing that he does is he does a good example of that.”
Stover answered a question that echoed through media microphones in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for years: Will Ohio State feature a tight end heavily in its passing game again? The Buckeyes did in 2022, and Stover was on the receiving end.
But Bailey believes Ohio State leaned on Stover too heavily down the stretch of the season — to the point where Stover wasn’t as healthy or effective as he could have been.
Stover played a combined 151-of-153 possible offensive snaps against Maryland and Michigan in Week 12 and 13, per Pro Football Focus. He totaled just six receptions for 33 yards in those games.
“It was 58 snaps he averaged a game,” Bailey said. “And that was [including] our blowouts that he didn’t play in the second half. That’s an absurd number for a guy to go 4-6, A to B for 58 snaps a game. So if we could take maybe, whatever, 20-30, whatever that number is — it’s not a defined number — and divvy that up. We’ve got enough depth that I could put guys out there to spell him.”
Bailey continued: “Cade deserves and his team deserves and his team needs Cade at his best later in the year. That’s what we’re gonna do.”
There are more ways to ensure that happening than simply load management. Stover has taken matters into his own hands as much as he can, shaving off close to 10 pounds and getting into what he said is the best shape of his life.
He ran with the skill players. Then he ran with them so more. And some more.
“The way I’m gonna look at it, you can just load the wagon and don’t really worry about the horse,” said Stover, who grew up on his family farm in Mansfield, Ohio. “Just be in good enough shape just to do whatever they ask me to do as many times we’re going to do it.”
Besides, that kind of endurance gives you time to talk trash, Stover joked.
“Nah, it just helps play-to-play when you run a 40, 50-yard route, and you gotta come back and you gotta block a defensive end the next play and you’re not huffing and puffing as bad as what you were a year ago,” he said. “That’s never an easy task.
“But when you can do a little more gas in your system, it helps.”
Bailey was promoted to tight ends coach this offseason after former Ohio State offensive coordinator/TEs coach Kevin Wilson took the Tulsa head coaching job. It was an in-house promotion for Bailey, who had spent the previous seven years with the program in a variety of roles.
Most recently, Bailey worked with the wide receivers and the offensive linemen. He’s blended together those two jobs as the Buckeyes’ tight ends coach.
Bailey’s time with the Ohio State receivers, in particular, has come in handy when working with Stover this offseason.
“I think last year was that 1000, 2000 level course. As if I was almost teaching a sophomore receiver,” Bailey said, referencing Stover. “Now, I’m teaching like a junior receiver or a senior receiver. Now, he needs to be able to see coverage, anticipate what techniques to use. It’s not so much reaction. Now, he can anticipate in his route running. It’ll be fun to watch if he keeps going.”
Bailey later noted: “He’s gonna be in 1-on-1 situations, and he’s just gotta take advantage of those.”
Stover was asked Wednesday how he’s different this year.
He drew some chuckles by quipping that he’s a year older and has a bigger beard. Then he snapped back into his more serious tone.
“I see things quicker, and it allows the game to really slow down more,” he said.
He’s also slimmer, a better route runner and more comfortable being uncomfortable.
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