Ohio State Football: Depth concern at just one position

The Ohio State football program has done a pretty darn good job at recruiting for most positions on the field. They have a lot of depth on both offense and defense. This is impressive considering how many players they lose to the NFL year in and year out.

However, there is one position this season where depth is a concern. That position is tight end. The Buckeyes lost Jeremy Ruckert to the NFL and don’t really have anyone to replace him. There weren’t many snaps played at tight end without him on the field.

Right now, it looks like the starter is going to be Cade Stover. But Gee Scott Jr. and Joe Royer are still fighting to be that primary tight end. The problem is that all three of them have minimal snaps under their belts at this point. No one has ever been the primary tight end.

This is the one area of concern when it comes to depth for the Buckeyes. It’s a bit scary not having any guy who has shown he can be the primary pass-catcher at that position. Even so, it’s not a big deal in Ryan Day’s offense because they hardly seem to use the tight end in the passing game anyway.

I’m really interested to see how often they use the tight end this season and who gets the most targets. That’s one of the things I’ll be watching early in the Notre Dame game. Having a tight end who isn’t just a blocking threat would unlock even more danger for this offense.