Keenan Bailey has stated several times that his standard as tight ends coach is to field the best tight end room in college football.
After a promotion to his current coaching role and his first bona fide assistant coaching job in 2023, Ohio State wasn’t in the mix for that title. Cade Stover collected the second-most receiving yards by a tight end in school history and finished as a finalist for the Mackey Award, but the Buckeyes’ line bookends lacked in the blocking department and there wasn’t much depth beyond Stover, though Gee Scott Jr. made some contributions.
Bailey’s room took a massive leap forward on the blocking front in 2024, with its top two options, Scott and Will Kacmarek, both grading out 64 or higher for the season as both run and pass blockers, per Pro Football Focus. But all of Ohio State’s tight ends combined had fewer receiving yards than Stover the previous year, Scott leading the way with 27 receptions for 253 yards and two touchdowns.
But finally, in 2025, the Buckeyes might boast the best tight end room in college football. While Scott is gone, Ohio State returns a great collection of veterans and talented youngsters, but the crown jewel will be a transfer portal acquisition from Purdue, Max Klare, the No. 1 tight end to enter the portal this offseason.
“We’re excited to have him. He’s gonna be an awesome addition to the room,” Bailey told Eleven Warriors on Dec. 30 ahead of the Rose Bowl. “Our challenge is to be the best room in the country, seriously.”
Klare was the No. 15 overall prospect and top tight end in the portal for a reason. Despite playing for one of the nation’s worst offenses – Purdue ranked 130th out of 134 FBS teams in scoring and 108th in yards per play in 2024 – he was second in the Big Ten for receiving yards by a tight end, trailing only Penn State superstar Tyler Warren. Klare collected 51 receptions for 685 yards and four touchdowns. He cleared the next-best Boilermaker receiver by 26 receptions, 320 yards and two touchdowns.
A redshirt junior, Klare is slated to be Ohio State’s headliner at the position as Kacmarek returns to bolster his new teammate’s ridiculous receiving skills with strong run and pass blocking. Kacmarek missed four games for the Buckeyes due to injury this past year but still played the second-most snaps among OSU tight ends, finishing with a run-block grade of 68.8 and a pass-block grade of 68.5, per PFF. He added eight receptions for 86 yards.
“It’s huge,” Bailey said of the difference Kacmarek made when he was healthy in 2024. “This is a guy who came in less than a year ago from today and brought this edge, this toughness to the room. And it was a shame to see him go down early, but I mean, he attacked that rehab, came back so quick.”
Kacmarek himself was a transfer to the Buckeyes, though he faced a bigger step up in competition going from Ohio to Ohio State. While Klare joins Rice left tackle Ethan Onianwa as the crown jewels of OSU’s 2025 transfer portal haul, Kacmarek worked quietly as a contributor in the background while 2024 transfers Caleb Downs, Will Howard, Seth McLaughlin and Quinshon Judkins emerged as stars. Now Kacmarek hopes to take another leap in his fifth and final season.
“It was a big jump in the beginning, that first spring ball,” Kacmarek told Eleven Warriors on Dec. 30. “Worked my way through, got used to the speed, got used to the physicality. But with a full season behind me now, I think I’ve definitely set in and I’ve been really impacting this conference and this team.”
Two more tight ends who played more than 160 snaps for the Buckeyes in 2024 reinforce the ranks with Klare and Kacmarek. Bennett Christian emerged as the third-most-used Ohio State tight end with 235 snaps, as the rising redshirt junior became a blocking weapon down the stretch of the campaign. Redshirt sophomore Jelani Thurman is hoping for his breakout opportunity in 2025, too.
Thurman entered Ohio State with great expectations as the No. 4 tight end prospect in 247Sports’ 2023 composite rankings. But in his second season, he was only Ohio State’s fourth-most used tight end at 165 snaps. He never complained, though.
“I love my role here,” Thurman told Eleven Warriors on Dec. 30. “I get to come here every day, get better. I get to come up with great players, great teammates. I get to help my teammates, they get to help me. I feel like my role has been playing well and, well, we’re winning.”
Bailey said that Thurman improved “in all facets” this past season, but especially in his maturity and execution. He pointed out that Thurman came in motion and pancaked a Tennessee linebacker for a goal-line touchdown in Ohio State’s first College Football Playoff win.
Ohio State makes it 35-10 vs. Tennessee pic.twitter.com/hlhL1RDVQr
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 22, 2024
Thurman is a microcosm of the steps Ohio State’s entire tight end room took as blockers. Thurman had a 77.8 run-blocking grade, the best of any Buckeye per PFF. He had a pass-blocking grade of 64 to go with four receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Improvement in blocking was seen across the board in Ohio State’s tight end room in 2024 as Scott received a run-blocking grade of 64.7 from PFF in his final season after achieving a grade of just 41.1 in 2023.
“I think we’ve grown in that asset,” Bailey said. “That was one thing that the leaders too, in the room, we looked at our goals that we want to get done, and how do we get it done as a tight end unit? It's being the toughest unit in the country, toughest on the team. And a lot of that has to do with blocking. Route running obviously is super important as well, but I'm proud so far of where we're at.”
Talented pups are also waiting to be thrown into the den for Ohio State. Max LeBlanc enters his second season as a highly touted prospect, ranked 14th at tight end and 258th overall in the 2024 recruiting class. Freshman Nate Roberts has arrived on campus as the No. 10 tight end and 202 prospect in 2025, as has fellow four-star Brody Lennon.
There’s work to be done on the field before the Buckeyes can be called one of the best tight end units in the country. But the ceiling for the group is there.
