This, as anybody who has followed Cade Stover since his days at Lexington High School knows, wasn’t the plan.
The closest he got to tight end in high school was when he played running back, accruing 1,477 yards and 17 touchdowns with plans that rarely went beyond the offense putting the ball in his hands and saying “you find space and do it yourself,” as Stover remembers. Offense was something he did for fun – and because he was good at it. His home, he thought, would be on the other side of the ball. As somebody who grew up dreaming of turning into the next James Laurinaitis, he arrived in Columbus two years ago with his sights on playing linebacker.