Cade Stover (born June 12, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

, and was selected by the Texans in the fourth round of the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

Early life

Stover was born on June 12, 2000, in

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, later attending Lexington High School in

Lexington, Ohio Lexington is a village (United States)#Ohio, village along the Clear Fork River in Troy Township, Richland County, Ohio, Troy Township and Washington Township, Richland County, Ohio, Washington Township in Richland County, Ohio, Richland County ...

. He was named Ohio's Mr. Football and the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior after rushing for 1,477 yards and 17 touchdowns on offense and recording 163 tackles and four interceptions on defense. Stover also set Lexington's all-time scoring record in basketball. He was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play college football at Ohio State over offers from Michigan, Oklahoma, Penn State, Texas, and Wisconsin.

College career

Stover was initially recruited to play linebacker at Ohio State, but was moved to defensive end before the start of his freshman season. He played in four games before redshirting the season. Stover was moved to tight end during spring practice in 2020. He returned back to linebacker during the season. Stover was again moved to tight end for his redshirt junior season and caught five passes for 76 yards. He played linebacker in the 2022 Rose Bowl due to a shortage of players at the position. In 2023, Stover was one of the three finalists for the Mackey Award, which is awarded to the nation's best tight end.

Professional career

Stover was selected with the 123rd overall pick in the

by the

References

External links

Houston Texans bioOhio State Buckeyes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stover, Cade Living people American football tight ends Ohio State Buckeyes football players Players of American football from Ohio 2000 births People from Mansfield, Ohio Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen