Ohio State’s starting tight end is sidelined against Rutgers.
While he made the trip to Piscataway and was not listed on Ohio State‘s pregame injury report, Cade Stover did not start the game against the Scarlet Knights and immediately took his helmet off on the sideline when the game started, indicating he will not play against Rutgers on Saturday.
Stover has been battling a knee injury since the Penn State game. While Stover was able to play through the injury against both Penn State and Wisconsin, Ohio State appears to be holding him out this week to allow him to get healthy. While he went through warmups with the Buckeyes on Saturday, he was wearing a brace on his injured knee.
Stover, who caught 27 passes for 429 yards and three touchdowns in Ohio State’s first seven games of the year, did not record any catches against the Badgers.
With Stover sidelined against Rutgers, Gee Scott Jr. started in Stover’s place at tight end. He quickly made the most of his starting opportunity by catching a 14-yard touchdown pass on Ohio State’s second drive of the game.
No. 1 Ohio State strikes first. @Geescottjr x @OhioStateFB
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 4, 2023
: CBS pic.twitter.com/0LgxqlNxtt
Beyond Scott, Ohio State’s tight end depth will be tested as Joe Royer is also unavailable for this week’s game and no other Buckeye tight end has played more than 14 snaps this season.
“Gee Scott is the two right now, and then after that some inexperience. So we’re going to work a bunch of guys this week and possibly get them in the game so that as we head into the homestretch here, guys have some game experience,” Ryan Day said Tuesday. ”You've seen us use different guys in that spot; we've been in 10 personnel, we've been in personnel where we bring Luke Montgomery into the game to be an extra tight end. So we have a couple of different options there, but we'd like to build that depth as well.”
Ohio State was expected to finally be back at full strength on offense as wide receiver Emeka Egbuka is expected to return against Rutgers after missing the last three games with an ankle injury. Instead, the Buckeyes are still missing one key piece with Stover watching from the sidelines.
Ohio State is also without two defensive starters against Rutgers. Cornerback Denzel Burke and safety Lathan Ransom were both ruled out for Saturday’s game and did not make the trip to Piscataway.
