BOOM
2026 four-star wide receiver Brock Boyd flips his commitment from TCU to Ohio State.
Keenan Bailey didn’t mince words on March 27 when asked whether this year’s tight end room is the deepest he’s had at Ohio State.
“It’s got to be,” Bailey said. “Just because – we had how many guys play in the natty? We had four or five tight ends. We had all six play in the playoffs. And four of those six are back. So yeah, we've got tons of guys in that room that have started college football games. And not just against the school down the street, like, big-time moments and big-time games. So, yeah, we're super deep.”
Observers of the Buckeyes’ spring game witnessed Bailey’s words become prophecy. Four Ohio State tight ends logged at least two receptions in the scrimmage, totaling 10 receptions for 114 yards as a unit. They accounted for 25% of the team’s receptions and 26% of its receiving yards.
Despite missing the services of Will Kacmarek, a major contributor to last year’s national championship team, who was out with an injury, Ohio State put its tight end talent and depth on display in the spring game as the position room aims to be the nation’s best in 2025.
“We're past the stage of, ‘OK, here's what it's going to be like on Saturday,’” Bailey said last month. “Almost all the guys in that room have done it. So now I can challenge them even more to go be the best tight end room in the country. We're at Ohio State. If you’re not up to that challenge, then go somewhere else.”
Those four tight ends noted by Bailey with College Football Playoff experience lay the foundation for a fantastic unit this year. Kacmarek saw 143 snaps in Ohio State’s four CFP games. Bennett Christian played 55, Jelani Thurman played 16 and Max LeBlanc played three. But the biggest potential star of the room didn’t play a down for the Buckeyes in 2024.
Max Klare saw some deserved fanfare after transferring from Purdue to Ohio State this offseason, ranked as the No. 1 tight end in the transfer portal. He doubled up all other Boilermakers in receptions with 51, led the team in receiving yards by more than 300 with 685 and was the only Purdue player with more than two touchdown receptions as he scored four times in 2024.
“He's a different kind of tight end than the veterans in the room, like Will and Bennett and Jelani and those guys coming back,” Bailey said. “I thought his skill set, how they used him at Purdue, he showed some things on film that might complement what we already have in the room and really make us a pretty whole unit.”
Klare built hype for his first Ohio State campaign with an eye-popping spring game performance. He found a hole against zone coverage on a seam route in the first quarter and hauled in a 26-yard touchdown pass from Julian Sayin.
“It's quick to point out how quick Max gets down the field, how quick he is in and out of his breaks, his ball skills,” Ryan Day said after the spring game. “We're going to work really hard this summer on some of the route running and how he does that. But he's going to be a weapon for us here in the fall.”
Julian Sayin Max Klare. pic.twitter.com/VR8eyOS2Tx
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) April 12, 2025
Thurman picked up two receptions for 35 yards in the spring game as he tries to deliver on his pedigree as a top-five tight end prospect in the recruiting class of 2023. LeBlanc brought in two catches for 22 yards, but the most productive day came from freshman Nate Roberts, who had four receptions for 41 yards.
“You could see all the tight ends get involved today,” Day said. “I think Keenan’s done a nice job of putting that room together. You see the way Jelani is working. You see the way Nate was making catches.”
Those stats don’t speak to the blocking acumen of some of Ohio State’s tight end options, namely Kacmarek and Christian, who are seen as formidable blocking specialists at the spot. Thurman also took major strides in that area in 2024.
Day noted that, with the number of tight ends ready to contribute, the Buckeyes could opt for a heavier dose of 12 personnel (one running back and two tight ends) in 2025. That says a lot given that Ohio State projects to have the best receiver room in the country for roughly the sixth consecutive year, thanks to newly minted offensive coordinator Brian Hartline.
“I show these recruits all the time, because everyone says, Ohio State's just a receiver school,” Bailey said. “Marvin Harrison was the best receiver in the country, and you know who number two is in targets and receptions and receiving yards (in 2023)? It was Cade (Stover). Because you could go to the other schools, and they don't have the receivers we do, and you're going to get doubled every game. Good luck.
“You have the receivers that Coach Hartline keeps bringing in here. We're going to have single coverage, and if my tight ends can't beat single coverage, we're going to have issues.”
Ohio State’s tight end room has all the parts needed to match the best-in-country standard Hartline’s set at receiver, and the spring game is the latest evidence of that fact. All that remains is to put it on the field come fall.
