Ohio redshirt junior tight end Troy Hill has gone by the nickname “Money” since grade school, but starting this week against Akron, he will become more valuable to the Bobcats than ever.
During Saturday’s win against Buffalo, the Bobcats suffered yet another detrimental loss, as they watched redshirt senior tight end Jordan Thompson shuffle to the sideline after sustaining a torn MCL and possibly ACL in the third quarter. The season-ending injury will prompt players such as Hill to step up to fill the void left in Thompson’s wake.
The play was the last of Thompson’s collegiate career, signaling an end to a streak of 47 consecutive starts — a current team high. Now, in his absence, a tight end trio that consists of some of the Bobcats’ most colorful backgrounds but has combined for only seven career starts will transition into more prominent roles. The group’s end goal is continuing to utilize the two tight end sets that Ohio has often used this season.
The tight end crew’s inherited situation is fairly similar to one Hill walked into early in his career at Valley High School in Pennsylvania, where he lettered in basketball four times and was on the varsity football team from sophomore year on. His ability to fill the role of departed players earned him another nickname, “Pup,” because he played beyond his years.
Ohio coach Frank Solich and tight ends coach Brian Haines both said the Bobcats are confident in the crew they have, adding tight end production shouldn’t drop off this week against the Zips.
“We have guys that will have to take more snaps now because of Jordan being out, but I think they’re capable guys.” Solich said. “Jordan’s not easy to replace.”
Stepping in for Thompson, who Hill said underwent MRIs Monday, is a welcome opportunity for the Bobcats’ tight ends, who believe they are more than capable of taking over where Thompson left off.
“It’s something that we’re ready to do,” said Derek Roback, a redshirt sophomore tight end from Waverly, Ohio. “Troy has experience, I have experience — we all have experience. It’s not like we’re all new guys that have never played games before.”
Roback has perhaps the most diverse background of the Bobcats’ top three tight ends. During his junior and senior seasons at Waverly High School, he led the Tigers under center, accounting for a combined 2,885 passing yards. In his first game as quarterback in 2008, he had eight touchdowns and accumulated 605 yards of total offense.
After rewriting Waverly’s record books, Roback spent a season on the sidelines for Notre Dame, where he was recruited as an athlete with the potential to play several positions.
Once landing at Ohio in 2011, he was able to reflect upon his time as a quarterback and how it fit his new role as a tight end.
“One day I just sat down and thought about it, and all of the things I realize that other guys don’t because of my experiences playing quarterback — the coverages and the things like that — are so much easier,” he said.
If Thompson was the group’s elder statesman, Hill its man of many names and Roback the Bobcats’ blue-collar workhorse, redshirt junior Tyler Knight is Ohio’s renaissance man.
Knight, whose uncle Ray played 13 years for five MLB teams, holds the most impressive earned run average in the history of Lee County High School in Georgia, attended a military junior college before arriving in Athens and enjoys hunting hogs and alligators with his friends back home.
“The biggest (’gator) I’ve ever caught was six-and-a-half feet,” he said, “Anything bigger than that, we don’t really mess with.”
Much of the Bobcats’ success in the coming weeks will hinge on getting players healthy. But with Thompson out for the long haul, the Bobcats will place their faith in their crop of tight ends.
“We have to have Troy, Roback and Tyler step up,” said Ohio redshirt junior quarterback Tyler Tettleton. “They’re no Jordan Thompson, but they can step up and for sure be a big part of this offense.”
jr992810@ohiou.edu
