Since Urban Meyer's arrival at Ohio State, involvement of tight ends in the offense has always been a sort of promising possibility that never quite materialized. Jake Stoneburner, Jeff Heuerman, Nick Vannett – the talent has always been there, but not necessarily the production.
The Buckeyes have been blessed with so many offensive weapons during Meyer's tenure that tight ends have often become a safety net at best and an after-thought at worst. The problem has not been the quality of player – Stoneburner, Heuerman and Vannett all found NFL homes – but simply that there is only one football to share among an arsenal of playmakers.
In 2016, the situation is quite a bit different than previous years. For starters, the offense returns almost no proven production. The team's top receiver and starting running back have little and no experience, respectively, and the team lost its top five receiving threats.
The Buckeyes return junior Marcus Baugh, who played extensively throughout the 2015 season, as well as redshirt freshman A.J. Alexander and are joined by vaunted freshmen Jake Hausmann and Luke Farrell.
Combine this reality with the fact that offensive coordinator Ed Warinner, who calls the plays for the offense, is now the position coach for the tight ends, and you have a perfect scenario for heavy involvement of tight ends in the offense – in theory.
"Our No.1 objective is to get the ball to playmakers."– Ed Warinner
"It only makes sense, right?" said Warinner on whether or not he'll work harder to get his position group involved in the offense. Reality, however, remains to be seen.
One thing is for certain, however – for one of the first times since Meyer's arrival, there is a definite hole to be filled in the offense. Only this time, the tight ends don't seem quite ready to fill it. Baugh has emerged as the No. 1 tight end option, but behind him the situation is far from settled.
"Tight end, Marcus Baugh then I just don't know right now," Meyer said of the tight ends. "A.J .(Alexander) is a minor ankle sprain in and out. He's practicing through it, though. The young freshmen still have a ways to go. But Jake Hausmann is ahead of Luke (Farrell)."
And from an anonymous source to 247sports.com:
"A.J. Alexander has been good, but we will see once the games start. Neither [Jake] Hausmann nor [Luke] Farrell have shown they are ready yet. Good thing [Chase] Hounshell is here."
Obviously, Warinner and Meyer alike would like to get the tight ends more involved in the offense, but if the younger tight ends can't prove they can be reliable playmakers, someone else will – and there's only one ball.
"Our No.1 objective is to get the ball to playmakers and as we develop this offense and go through training camp, we're trying to find out who the consistent playmakers are," Warinner said.
With the season a week away, these young Bucks are running low on time to show their worth and earn playing time. The offense is only getting more crowded. There's a space to be claimed in this 2016 offense – the young players will need to strike while the iron is hot.
