Ohio State Buckeyes TE Lands Major Praise Ahead of 2025 Season

A lot of attention for the 2025 Buckeye offense is centered on Jeremiah Smith. That’s going to pay dividends for Purdue transfer tight end Max Klare.

CBS Sports mentioned Klare as one of the many transfer players in the Big Ten conference who are looking to make a huge statement with their new teams, pointing out that Klare was dominant for the Boilermakers last year despite being one of the only threats Purdue’s offense had.

In 2024, Klare posted 51 catches for 685 yards and four touchdowns. While there are some question marks at quarterback for the Buckeyes, replicating that season would have him go down with one of the best single-season performances in the history of Ohio State tight ends. Case in point, Billy Anders set the tight end receiving yards mark at 671 in 1966.

Recently, the Buckeye Talk podcast pointed out that if Ohio State plays 15 games, which is quite likely, Klare would only have to average 46.6 yards per game to hit 700 yards. He averaged 57.1 last year in 12 games for Purdue.

The Buckeyes' offense has the targets to feed. Between the departures of Emeka Egbuka, TreVeyon Henderson, and Quinshon Judkins, roughly 140 receptions are up for grabs in 2025. While Smith could feasibly eat into that number himself, and Carnell Tate will see an uptick in production as well, it’s reasonable to expect Klare to grab 50-60 himself as an underneath option.

With a young quarterback in Julian Sayin, the Buckeyes need a safety blanket to emerge when teams hone in on Smith on the outside. That opens up plenty of opportunities for a guy like Klare to shine.

Whether or not Klare can also reach for the tight end single-season touchdown record, which is seven, is a bit more reliant on outside factors such as Smith’s share of explosive touchdowns, Sayin’s red-zone efficiency and the performance of sophomore back James Peoples. Still, presuming the usual reliability of Ohio State’s coaching staff to get the most out of its players, there’s little reason to think things won’t trend in a positive direction for all parties.

All in all, Klare is poised for a monster season in 2025, which paints an exciting picture for the Buckeyes' offensive outlook in the coming season.