Fourth-year tight end, Cade Stover, exits the field following Ohio State’s spring game. Credit: Katie Good | Assistant Photo Editor
Growing up in Mansfield, Ohio, Cade Stover was known for several things.
His football skills spoke for themselves, standing 6-foot-4 and 255 pounds, and led him to a scholarship spot on Ohio State’s roster in 2019.
But in the Stover family, working on the family farm isn’t an extracurricular activity but an everyday responsibility.
“We raise cattle. We farm corn. We farm alfalfa, so we do all kinds of stuff,” Stover said. “I’d say any job there is on the farm I probably have touched at some point.”
Stover’s newest job is one appointed to him Aug. 13: one of No. 2 Ohio State’s six captains as voted among his teammates.
Before beginning his Buckeye career, Stover helped his parents run their farm, and his family owns two butcher shops, with one in his hometown Mansfield and the other in Powell.
“I think if you think about a farmer, you think about a country fella,” Stover said. “I mean, you’re a blue-collared, tough person.”
To Stover, that person is his father, Trevor Stover.
“How he handles business, how he handles issues on the farm, whether you got a cow sick, whether you got mechanical problems, you got all kinds of stuff,” Cade Stover said. “There’s a mental toughness, and there’s a physical toughness to it, too, and there’s just a presence about a tough person that you want to be around.”
Cade Stover said he grew up watching his father wake up around 5 a.m., return home near 7 p.m. that evening and remain diligent in maintaining the family farm.
As he progressed through his own football career, Cade Stover said his father encouraged him to pursue his athletic passions. Trevor Stover understood the grind of being a successful student-athlete; he played tight end at Bowling Green in the 1990s.
“He knew football. I mean, he saw something that I didn’t see in me way before anybody did, to be honest with you. He always knew,” Stover said. “Whether I would bale hay and cut hay before, go lift then come back and do it again. There was never any time he’d be like, ‘No, you can’t go to that.’ It was always, ‘Go to that. Go be an athlete. Go do your thing.’ That was always good.”
Cade Stover was named Ohio’s Mr. Football in 2018 before arriving at Ohio State as a linebacker.
He spent most of his first three seasons with the program on defense before converting to tight end in 2021, but he made the move back to linebacker for the Rose Bowl. He recorded six tackles in the bowl game.
“Cade’s really worked hard,” head coach Ryan Day said Aug. 11. “His physicality is what you notice the most. For a big guy, he is athletic, has good ball skills and has worked hard in the offseason to work on his route running and catching the ball, so that’s been excellent.”
Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said Cade Stover is “one of the dudes of our team” and praised the way he upholds consistency across his on-field play and off-the-field leadership.
Graduate Mitch Rossi, who practices under Wilson’s tight end room, said “a lot” of things make Cade Stover different than most Buckeyes, but he’s noticed his consistency. Wilson and his teammates do, too.
“You can tell that he has a really good upbringing. He’s a dude that I want in my foxhole-type guy, so he’s not going to blame me for something,” Rossi said. “We’re working together out there, and I can trust him. It’s great having him out there.”
Cade Stover will focus primarily at tight end entering the 2022 season, which starts with a top-five matchup against No. 5 Notre Dame at Ohio Stadium Sept. 3.
Imposing in stature and physical on the field, Cade Stover’s leadership derives from the roots of his family farm — roots that he wants to develop into his own legacy at Ohio State and beyond.
“I’m nowhere where I’m at without my dad and my mom and those guys, so just making them proud, that’s my No. 1 goal,” Stover said. “Being out here for these guys and my team, I mean, just knowing that if stuff goes down anywhere you’re at, they know who’s going to be with them.”
