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LAS VEGAS — It’s not exactly unheard of for college football players to transition from playing defense to playing offense, but it’s not very common. Much more often, you’ll see a receiver convert to playing cornerback or a running back start playing safety. When players flip from defense to offense, it’s usually linemen. But that’s not the case for former Ohio State tight end Cade Stover, who began his career in Columbus as a linebacker and defensive end before moving to offense.
If you just looked at Stover’s production in his final two collegiate seasons, you’d probably have a hard time believing that he was a defender when he showed up to school. Stover posted 36 catches for 406 yards and five touchdowns in 2023, then followed that up with 41 catches for 576 yards and five more scores in 2023. And he did that while playing alongside star wideouts like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka.
Working in what is essentially an NFL skill-position group — and, in the first of those two seasons, alongside a player who is already one of the league’s best quarterbacks in C.J. Stroud — has its obvious benefits.
“I was very lucky to be put in the situation I was put in. Just for the sheer fact of having good players around me opened up a lot of good opportunities for me to just to work one-on-one with a lot of people. So I think it’s really gonna help me next level,” said Stover, who spoke to CBS Sports as part of a promotional event for Icy Hot. “When you play with a bunch of good [threats], it helps everybody. I mean you guys basically pick your poison at that point. Somebody’s gonna get the one-on-one coverage. And if I was not getting it, then it’s on somebody else. We just look for a one-on-one matchup.”
Depending on where he lands, Stover could see plenty of one-on-one matchups in the NFL, but one of the keys to winning them, he says, is his background as a…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2024-nfl-draft-former-ohio-state-te-cade-stover-talks-defensive-background-playing-with-nfl-caliber-wideouts/
Author : Jared Dubin
Publish date : 2024-04-10 15:12:30
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