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Recently, the Ohio State passing game has involved the wideouts almost exclusively. Fullbacks and tight ends were essentially third (even fourth) offensive tackles who were meant to protect the quarterback. Rory Nicol, despite his touted athleticism, was little-used in the passing game, and often supplanted by Jake Ballard, a much longer, leaner tight end who worked well as that third tackle. Andy Miller, who has rotated between tight end and tackle throughout his career, also saw significant time almost exclusively as a blocker in third-and-long and goal-line situations. With the offensive line's massive struggles last year, the use of a tight end as little more than a skinny tackle seemed a necessary sacrifice so that the Buckeyes could at least manage a passing game ranked somewhere above Navy and Georgia Tech's (or Michigan's, for that matter). Or at least, so it would seem.

The fact of the matter is that Ohio State's most productive game passing the ball the last two years (against a non-FCS,  non-MAC opponent) was against Penn State in 2007. In that game, Nicol and Ballard notched 8 catches for 59 yards, and Nicol provided a consistent intermediate receiving threat despite Penn State's typically talented linebacking corps. These numbers might not seem huge, but if you watched that game and subsequent games, you'd know that this was probably the biggest statistical contribution tight ends have had to the Ohio State passing attack in the post-Troy Smith era. As a point of reference, Nicol and Ballard had 11 catches the entire 2008 season, and the passing game's overall national ranking dropped from 86th to 105th. Now, it's simply ridiculous to attribute the drop to the lack of involvement for tight ends in the passing game, but it, along with the maturation of a young quarterback and mediocre line play, did factor into the unit's subpar performance. If you don't believe me, then look at what's happened to Jake Stoneburner.

John Peterson, Jim Tressel, and perhaps even Jim Bollman have gotten together and made this decision for a reason. While it's unquestioned that they prefer to get their yards using a power running game, great power running games are often complemented by excellent tight ends, as this Austin-American Statesman article from before the Fiesta bowl points out:

It's now been 25 years since Ohio State's most productive tight end, John Frank, played. Three of the top six leaders for career receptions for a tight end — Billy Anders, Bruce Jankowski and Jan White — played during Hayes' three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust days.

The conversion of Stoneburner shows that for the first time in a few years, Tressel and Co. are genuinely interested in diversifying an anemic passing game. Stoneburner simply doesn't fit the glorified-tackle prototype of his predecessors and is an instant match-up issue for any team. At 6'6" 230 with enough speed to be considered a viable Big Ten receiver, teams will almost be forced to put someone other than a linebacker on him once he grows into the role. For Pryor, it's conceivable he'll end up being the most reliable short-and-intermediate range receiver in the passing game.

But it won't be easy. As exciting as the prospect may be, Stoneburner still has to learn a new position, and the coaching staff still has to figure out a creative way to consistently get the tight ends involved in the passing game. If they're looking for an offense to base at least some of their concepts on, Oklahoma, who had one (admittedly phenomenally talented) tight end total 66 grabs over a season. While Jake Stoneburner likely won't be Jermaine Gresham at any point in his career (considering Gresham had more catches last year than any single Ohio State receiver has had in the last five years under Jim Tressel), it's a good place to start.