The offense would change without Stoneburner, especially when the Buckeyes want to put two tight ends in the game.
Ohio State tight end Jake Stoneburner, 11, is Ohio State's third-leading receiver but is expected to miss Saturday's game at Illinois. Ohio State tight end Jake Stoneburner is not expected to travel to Illinois for the Buckeyes' first road game of the season unless his injured left ankle greatly improves, OSU head coach Jim Tressel said today.
"Now, this is Thursday and we've seen miraculous changes on Thursday," Tressel said. "But if we were leaving at this moment, he wouldn't be in that group. We haven't seen him do enough. He's done some movement stuff with the trainers, but he hasn't done the football things we hoped he might do yesterday."
Stoneburner's absence would change the offense. Sophomore Reid Fragel would step into Stoneburner's role, as he did last week when the injury happened against Eastern Michigan, and the Buckeyes trust Fragel fully. At 6-foot-8 and 260 pounds, he's a different player than the 6-5, 245-pound Stoneburner. He's probably a better blocker but isn't the same receiving threat as Stoneburner.
Stoneburner, a redshirt sophomore, is Ohio State's third-leading receiver, with nine catches for 110 yards. Fragel has three catches for 31 yards, two of them coming last week.
But the real issue is when Ohio State wants to go to two tight ends in short-yardage situations. Tressel said they feel the tight end depth really goes two deep, but now they need No. 3 to step in. That would be fifth-year senior Ricky Crawford, a former walkon who earned a scholarship this season but who was a receiver until asking to be moved to tight end in the spring. Walkon Spencer Smith, who converted from fullback this season, is another option.
The Buckeyes could throw an extra offensive lineman into the game instead of a second tight end in those situations, and Tressel said they worked it both ways in practice.