Buckeye Tight End Cade Stover Selected In Fourth Round By Houston Texans

Ohio State tight end Cade Stover has been selected by the Houston Texans with the 23rd pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He was the No. 123 player selected overall. He will be reunited with former Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud.

Stover finished his Buckeye career with 82 receptions, 1,058 yards receiving, and 10 touchdowns. The catches and yards place him second all-time in Ohio State history among tight ends. The 10 touchdown catches rank third-most in school history.

As a fifth-year senior in 2023, Stover caught 41 passes for 576 yards. Those numbers were each good enough for third-most in a single season for an Ohio State tight end.

Stover was a Mackey Award finalist as the nation’s best tight end in 2023. He was named the Big Ten’s Tight End of the Year and was a First-Team All-Conference selection. He was the fifth Big Ten drafted.

Stover was a two-year starter for the Buckeyes at tight end, and also a two-time captain. His career, however, began on the defensive side of the ball. He started out as a linebacker and had a cup of coffee as a defensive end. He moved to tight end in 2021, though moved back to linebacker late in the season, earning a start against Utah and posting six tackles.

Stover was a four-star prospect in the 2019 recruiting class. He was named Ohio’s Mr. Football and the Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior after posting 163 tackles, four interceptions, 1,477 yards rushing, and 17 touchdowns.

As a high school sophomore, Stover posted 190 tackles — averaging nearly 15 tackles per game.

Cade Stover is the first Ohio State tight end drafted since Jeremy Ruckert went to the New York Jets in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Luke Farrell was selected one year earlier in the fifth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Stover now becomes the latest in a very long line of Ohio State tight ends who will don an NFL jersey.

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