Hungry, driven Cade Stover embracing ‘never-ending process’

INDIANAPOLIS — Think Cade Stover had a tough decision to make regarding a return for his final season at Ohio State? Think again.

Sure, that Ohio State loss to Michigan last November played a large role. As did his unfortunate end to the Peach Bowl, in which he watched the second half from the hospital with a brutal injury to his back. So did his desire to become a better all-around tight end, both in the pass-catching and run-blocking sides of playing his position.

But it was easy for Stover to say yes for another year with the Buckeyes once he realized he was going to return alongside his roommates and fellow Ohio State leaders Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers.

“When I figured out they were coming back,” Stover said with a smile when speaking to Lettermen Row in a one-on-one interview. “We were all kind of like, ‘we’re going to sign a lease on the house again.’ I’m going back.”

Make no mistake: Cade Stover came back to Ohio State to become a better player and leader on the way to winning a national championship. He made that quite clear throughout his entire day over in Indianapolis on Wednesday.

There was just something in the way those losses to Michigan and Georgia ended the season that wouldn’t allow Stover to walk away from his in-state football program and jet off to the NFL.

“Those two games really hurt me,” Stover said. “They really bothered me. That’s something you wake up thinking about. You work out, you’re thinking about it. It’s something you hold on to. So that really drives you. But you look besides and you got your boys with you again? It’s hard not to go hard.”

Stover has been going hard in the facility with a not-so-new voice in his ear. Former offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson left for the head coaching job at Tulsa, paving the way for former graduate assistant Keenan Bailey to become the new tight ends coach.

Bailey helped mold Stover into the caliber of tight end he became a season ago. Stover caught 36 passes for 406 yards and five touchdowns a year ago. And he thinks Bailey can aid the effort for Stover to get even better for the Buckeyes this upcoming season — before he heads to the NFL.

“It’s awesome,” Stover said of his relationship with the new tight ends coach Bailey. “We’re so close. … I trust him just like he trusts me.”

Ahead of another year with the Buckeyes, one in which he’ll will very likely be named a captain for the second straight season, Cade Stover is already gaining buzz as one of the top tight ends in next spring’s NFL Draft class. He is gaining more and more confidence as one of the best tight ends in the Big Ten — and potentially around college football.

It’s all thanks to the work he has put in since becoming a tight end two years ago after starting his career on defense. But the work is far from finished.

“Yeah, I think that,” Stover said. “Yeah, I think it’s never going to stop. Every single year, we’re going to look back and say we can improve on that.

“I think every single year there’s got to be a never-ending process.”

He has one more season of that process before he’s finished at Ohio State. That was a decision he made in order to improve every aspect of his game.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he was able to resign on his lease with his roommates along the way.

The post Hungry, driven Cade Stover embracing ‘never-ending process’ appeared first on On3.