Cade Stover has ‘more left’ to do, can be ’10 times better’ for Buckeyes
COLUMBUS — Cade Stover is back for Ohio State.
Nah, that doesn’t come close to capturing it. So once again, and this time with feeling and gusto.
Cade Stover is back! Hell yeah!
That’s more like it, because when the Ohio State tight end announced in January he was returning for another season with the Buckeyes, there was depth to that decision. For example, he knew he could become an even better tight end, having moved back to the position full time just this time a year ago and then blossoming. Plus, being a Buckeyes captain last season, anyone could see his herd-tending approach to leadership would be much appreciated again in 2023.
And then, just think about the way last season ended. In the first quarter after making what turned out to be his only catch in the College Football Playoff semifinal against Georgia, he tried to hurdle a defender, was flipped and landed on his rear. He managed to limp off, but moments later he was on his way to an Atlanta hospital.
“Before I went in for an MRI we were up by a touchdown, I think,” Stover said. “Then I came out and it was over (Ohio State losing in the fourth quarter 42-41, a last-second field goal going wide left). I saw a highlight of what happened and stuff.”
The MRI had confirmed a fracture of a small bone protrusion off his lower spine which would heal well in time. Anyone could see the broken heart.
He’d had to leave in the midst of that battle, one in which it was obvious he was going to play a major part for Ohio State.
“Probably one of the hardest days of my life, hardest moment in my life for sure so far,” Cade Stover said. “You wait your whole life to get to that point, have an opportunity to play in that, and that happens. I had my mom and dad with me, it was hard. It’s even hard for me to talk about now, because that team was close, it was a special team that I wanted to see do well.
“So for me not to be out there with them hurt bad, and still kind of stings to this day.”
Couple that with the team losing for the second straight year to Michigan in the game before and, well, that’s not exactly going out with a bang.
“It just felt like something’s telling me ‘You’ve got more to do,’ and I just felt like I did,” he said. “And that’s why I came back.”
His is no Don Quixote tale; he’s not chasing windmills.
“I just feel like there’s more for me to — as good of a year as the team had and everything, there’s more left,” Stover said. “I felt uneasy with my own [feelings], I don’t know if I’d ever forgive myself leaving a place like this that I’ve put so much into, on a note like that.”
Plus, “I think I can be 10 times better than I was,” Cade Stover said.
His desire probably is best exemplified by the hurdling move he tried to put on the Georgia defender, something that had worked for him a few times previously in earlier games. But did that injury put a governor on his reckless abandon moving forward for the Buckeyes?
“No,” Stover said. “Probably doubled it, to be honest with you.”
Why?
“Why not?” he countered.
It appears to be quite clear his belief is to play the game full throttle, so that whenever the end of his playing days come there will be no regrets. What happened to him against Georgia reinforced that mindset.
“You never know what’s going to be your last day, what’s going to be your last play,” Stover said. “Some day it’s going to come. So when you realize, hey, you can’t play the rest of that game, could you have gone harder in the first eight plays you were in there? …
“Because if it’s the last time doing something, you’re going to enjoy the hell out of it, right? You just don’t know when that’s coming. So if you’ve got to double down, maybe be in better shape, be in better physical shape, mental shape, whatever it is, you’re gonna do it, because you don’t know when it’s your last time out there.”
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