Often Overlooked, Nick Vannett and Jeff Heuerman are Valuable Weapons in Ohio State's Offense

By Tim Shoemaker on October 24, 2014 at 1:15 pm
Nick Vannett is a huge part of Ohio State's 1-2 punch at tight end.
25 Comments

The Roman philosopher Seneca is credited with saying, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

By that definition, Ohio State redshirt junior tight end Nick Vannett got lucky Saturday, when he had two touchdown catches in the Buckeyes' 56-17 win over Rutgers.

Vannett wasn't even supposed to be on the field during the plays on which he scored — it was supposed to be fellow tight end Jeff Heuerman.

But when Heuerman took himself out of the game prior to each scoring play, Vannett stepped in. The rest, as they say, is history.

“He got a little tired so he came running off the field, I came running in and it happened to be a play that we had a great chance of getting the ball on," Vannett said after Wednesday's practice. "Unfortunately for him I made two touchdowns out of it.”

But it doesn't really matter to the pair of tight ends who does the scoring. What's more important is that the 13th-ranked Buckeyes continue to win games. They had some fun with the situation after the win.

“They called me up after the game and I gave credit to him obviously because it wouldn’t have happened for me if he never would have came out of the game so we were kinda joking about it," Vannett said. "I told him I’d buy him a steak dinner.”

Over the last four games, Ohio State's offense has been rolling as it has put up averages of 56 points and 614 yards per contest.

It has scored 50-plus points in four-straight games for the first time in school history and has racked up over 500 yards of offense four-straight times for just the first time since 1998.

A lot of that success has been the result of redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett's rapid improvement and the play of talented, young playmakers at the skilled positions like wide receiver Michael Thomas, H-backs Dontre Wilson and Jalin Marshall and running back Ezekiel Elliott.

With all of that firepower, Vannett and Heuerman can be a bit overlooked despite both having been around the program for quite some time. But that doesn't change the fact the two are still very important to Ohio State's offense.

"That's a strength of our team," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said of his tight ends Thursday on his weekly call-in show.

The more talented of the two is Heuerman — who is rated by ESPN's Todd McShay as the No. 1 tight end prospect in this year's NFL Draft class.

But a lingering foot injury has limited the Naples, Fla. native to just five catches for 82 yards so far this season. Last year, however, Heuerman had a breakout season for the Buckeyes, grabbing 26 balls for 466 yards and four TDs.

As Heuerman continues to get healthy and back to his normal self, Vannett has done a more than admirable job filling in, hauling in 10 catches for 120 yards and three scores on the season.

Meyer praised Vannett saying, "He goes into one of the most improved players on our team category."

"It’s all fun, there’s really no competition between us," Vannett said. "We’re just trying to enjoy the season.”

And as Ohio State prepares to travel to a hostile environment Saturday against Penn State, the Buckeyes will likely need to rely on their running game and Barrett's ability to take what the defense gives him as he looks to distribute the ball to the playmakers on the outside and both of his tight ends.

“We’ve just gotta keep doing what we’ve been doing this whole time — just be a physical team up front," Vannett said. "Like I said, we’re not gonna change who we are. We’re gonna do what we’ve gotta do and we think we’re better than them and we’ve just gotta prove that.”

25 Comments
View 25 Comments