Out of all the high school football players Jim Knowles could have gone to watch on Friday night, it was Garrett Stover who Ohio State’s defensive coordinator spent his night seeing.
That reflects Stover’s standing as one of the Buckeyes’ top defensive targets in the recruiting class of 2024, and it meant a lot to Stover to have Knowles in attendance as he helped Big Walnut earn a 41-7 win at Dublin Scioto on Friday night.
“I think it's amazing, just them having a bye week and then out of all the recruits in the country, I'm one of those stops,” Stover told Eleven Warriors after the game. “So it makes you feel pretty special and it makes you feel like that what I've put in has paid off and everything. And it’s great to see him out here.”
Knowles’ trip to watch Stover play on Friday was another indicator of the burgeoning relationship between the local four-star prospect and Knowles. While Ohio State’s recruitment of Stover has gained steam quickly since Stover camped at Ohio State on June 1 and earned his offer from the Buckeyes, Stover says his bond with Knowles is such that he feels like he’s known Knowles for much longer than he has.
“It's kind of like one of those things where you’d think he's been coaching me for five years already,” Stover said. “Just kind of building that connection and everything, and he's a great coach. It'd be an honor to play for him. And I'm excited to keep building this relationship with him.”
Stover says he talks with Knowles regularly and that their conversations aren’t always about football.
“Just making sure I'm doing well, checking up on me and everything, and just nothing really could be about football, just life in general,” Stover said. “I think that's what a really good coach has to do that and everything. So I think that's big.”
Stover said he also talks frequently with Ryan Day and has also been in communication with Ohio State safeties coach Perry Eliano, defensive graduate assistant Koy McFarland and senior analyst Matt Guerrieri.
The mutual interest Ohio State and Stover have in each other has been easy to see as Stover has already been to three of the Buckeyes’ five home games so far this season. He plans to return as the Buckeyes still have three more home games this year, though he said he isn’t certain yet which of those games he’ll attend.
There are a couple of obvious reasons why Stover has regularly been in attendance at Ohio State games; he lives only 25 minutes away from the Shoe, and his cousin Cade is the Buckeyes’ starting tight end. But he also keeps coming back because of how much he enjoys his experience every time he’s there.
“The whole atmosphere … the family feel, the welcoming feel you get when you approach it, I think that's huge,” Stover said of why Ohio State keeps him coming back. “I love just the whole thing. I mean, it's awesome. The gameday environment and everything. And obviously, that place is filled with great people that I just love to be around.”
Although he remains uncommitted, Garrett Stover has been a regular at Ohio State games this fall.
The younger Stover says he is “extremely happy” for the success his older cousin has had as Cade has helped captain the Buckeyes to a 6-0 start in 2022.
“He’s put in the work and he did his time there and everything and waited his turn and now it's his time to shine and he's executing and he's doing a great job,” Stover said. “I couldn't be more happy for him and proud of him and I'm excited to watch him every Saturday.”
While Garrett said Cade isn’t putting any pressure on his cousin to follow in his footsteps and become a Buckeye, Garrett Stover said he talks to his cousin regularly and that Cade has had nothing but good things to say about his experience at Ohio State.
“He loves it and he thinks it's a great place,” Stover said of what Cade says about Ohio State. “The thing is with him I mean, he just wants to be around people who feel like family and everything, so that's obviously what I want to be around too.”
All of that said, Garrett wants to be diligent with his recruiting process rather than rushing into a decision.
“Not really, just still kind of taking my time with it, feeling things out,” Stover said when asked if he had a timeline for a commitment.
Right now, Stover’s focus is on his junior season at Big Walnut, which is also having a successful 2022 campaign. The Golden Eagles improved to 8-1 with their win at Dublin Scioto, giving them reason to believe in their ability to make a deep postseason run.
“It's been great,” Stover said of his junior season. “We've had our ups and downs. And, you know, honestly, we're playing great. Our team’s coming together. Defense is playing great. Offense is executing. I mean, we're now 8-1, and we just want to keep this thing going as long as we can.”
Stover has been playing hurt for most of the season after dislocating his shoulder on the seventh play of Big Walnut’s second game of the year. Stover will undergo surgery following the season to repair a torn labrum in that shoulder, but he hasn’t let it keep him off the field this fall, as he’s been a mainstay on the Golden Eagles’ defense at linebacker while also contributing occasionally as a running back and wide receiver on offense.
Can hear this hit from Garrett Stover: pic.twitter.com/FmBfrW8CTo
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) October 15, 2022
While Stover has had to wear a brace on his shoulder that has limited his range of motion, he says the injury isn’t causing him much pain.
“When I was coming back (initially), I was kind of unsure about it, kind of hesitant when I didn't really need to be and it was fine,” Stover said. “But now I'm not really thinking about it.”
Stover played safety at Big Walnut last season before moving to linebacker this season and could potentially play either position at the next level. He says Ohio State has talked to him about the possibility of playing both positions, as is reflected by his being recruited by both Knowles (who is also Ohio State’s linebackers coach) and Eliano.
He currently has the build and athleticism of a safety at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, but much like his cousin – who was initially recruited to Ohio State as a linebacker – where Stover eventually plays at the collegiate level could depend on how his body develops over the next couple of years.
“I got a lot of work to do and everything, so we'll see,” said Stover, who is currently ranked as the No. 189 overall prospect nationally and eighth-best prospect in Ohio for the 2024 class.
