{"id":13825,"date":"2023-08-16T19:33:52","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T00:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=13825"},"modified":"2023-08-16T19:33:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T00:33:52","slug":"striving-to-get-uncomfortable-this-offseason-cade-stover-is-now-in-best-shape-of-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/striving-to-get-uncomfortable-this-offseason-cade-stover-is-now-in-best-shape-of-his-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Striving to \u2018get uncomfortable\u2019 this offseason, Cade Stover is now in best shape of his life"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS \u2014 There are two words that first-year Ohio State tight ends coach Keenan Bailey texts returning captain Cade Stover<\/a> all the time. He even printed those words and put them on Stover\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet uncomfortable,\u201d a passionate Bailey recited Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does that mean? It means if I put Cade in a drill and he can exhale because he knows he\u2019s 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\u2019s comfortable doing, shame on me, he\u2019s not getting better. You don\u2019t get better when you\u2019re comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Sometimes those drills even pit Stover versus Ohio State\u2019s top cornerbacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause if you can beat Denzel Burke<\/a> at the line of scrimmage, you can beat a safety,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cHe might hate it at the time, but he\u2019s getting so much better.\u201d <\/p>\n

Stover added: \u201c[Coach Bailey] does a really good job at that. \u2026 In practice, I\u2019m doing stuff that, a lot of times, I\u2019ve never done before in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stover starred at linebacker in high school, emerging as Ohio\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

One more change, a full-time return to tight end, ahead of the 2022 campaign did the trick.<\/p>\n

Stover broke out last season. His 36 receptions for 406 receiving yards were the most by a Buckeyes tight end in 28 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shows up,\u201d fellow Ohio State tight end Gee Scott Jr.<\/a> said. \u201cFancy one-hand catches are great, don\u2019t get me wrong. But being here over the years, one thing I\u2019ve learned is we want the guy that\u2019s going to show up day in and day out \u2026 and putting your best foot forward and being the best version of yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think one thing that he does is he does a good example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

But Bailey believes Ohio State leaned on Stover too heavily down the stretch of the season \u2014 to the point where Stover wasn\u2019t as healthy or effective as he could have been.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was 58 snaps he averaged a game,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cAnd that was [including] our blowouts that he didn\u2019t play in the second half. That\u2019s 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 \u2014 it\u2019s not a defined number \u2014 and divvy that up. We\u2019ve got enough depth that I could put guys out there to spell him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey continued: \u201cCade deserves and his team deserves and his team needs Cade at his best later in the year. That\u2019s what we\u2019re gonna do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He ran with the skill players. Then he ran with them so more. And some more. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I\u2019m gonna look at it, you can just load the wagon and don\u2019t really worry about the horse,\u201d said Stover, who grew up on his family farm in Mansfield, Ohio. \u201cJust be in good enough shape just to do whatever they ask me to do as many times we\u2019re going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides, that kind of endurance gives you time to talk trash, Stover joked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNah, 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\u2019re not huffing and puffing as bad as what you were a year ago,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s never an easy task. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you can do a little more gas in your system, it helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Most recently, Bailey worked with the wide receivers and the offensive linemen. He\u2019s blended together those two jobs as the Buckeyes\u2019 tight ends coach.<\/p>\n

Bailey\u2019s time with the Ohio State receivers, in particular, has come in handy when working with Stover this offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think last year was that 1000, 2000 level course. As if I was almost teaching a sophomore receiver,\u201d Bailey said, referencing Stover. \u201cNow, I\u2019m teaching like a junior receiver or a senior receiver. Now, he needs to be able to see coverage, anticipate what techniques to use. It\u2019s not so much reaction. Now, he can anticipate in his route running. It\u2019ll be fun to watch if he keeps going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey later noted: \u201cHe\u2019s gonna be in 1-on-1 situations, and he\u2019s just gotta take advantage of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stover was asked Wednesday how he\u2019s different this year. <\/p>\n

He drew some chuckles by quipping that he\u2019s a year older and has a bigger beard. Then he snapped back into his more serious tone. <\/p>\n

\u201cI see things quicker, and it allows the game to really slow down more,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s also slimmer, a better route runner and more comfortable being uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

The post Striving to \u2018get uncomfortable\u2019 this offseason, Cade Stover is now in best shape of his life<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS \u2014 There are two words that first-year Ohio State tight ends coach Keenan Bailey…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}