Ohio State TE Coach Highlights Nate Roberts’ Growth Entering Sophomore Season

Bailey sets expectations as the Buckeyes replace most of their tight end production this season.

Ohio State Buckeyes tight ends coach Keenan Bailey, right, and head coach Ryan Day walk along the sideline during the Big Ten Conference championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Dec. 6, 2025. Ohio State lost 13-10. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ohio State is not talking about Nate Roberts like a young player anymore.

Now a sophomore, Roberts is stepping into a tight end room that lost the majority of its production, but inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, that reality is not being used as an excuse. Instead, Keenan Bailey, the Buckeyes Co-OC and tight ends coach, made it clear this spring that Nate has already earned his opportunity and is being held to the same standard as everyone else in the offense.

“He’s taken quite a bit of a step up and it started in the weight room,” Bailey said. “[He] was far and away top ranked when we came out of winter, and that’s why he got the first crack at it when we got to spring.”

That opportunity was not handed out based on potential. It was earned through daily competition, something Bailey emphasized as a defining part of Roberts’ development heading into year two.

While Nate is still early in his college career, Bailey pushed back on the idea that he should be viewed as inexperienced. From his perspective, Roberts has already been tested in meaningful moments.

“Sometimes we can think of him as a young guy because he’s been here for one year, but his first college rep was fourth and one,” Bailey said. “We ran behind him and scored a touchdown. He’s played a lot of ball.”

That mindset reflects a larger philosophy within Ohio State’s tight end room.

“I’m not going to recruit someone whose expectation is not to be the best in the country, period,” Bailey said.

That standard becomes even more significant given what Ohio State must replace. Bailey noted the Buckeyes lost “like 90 percent” of their production at the position, including key contributors in both the run game and passing attack. But rather than looking for one player to replicate that output, the approach is collective.

“It’s going to take everybody,” Bailey said. “Huge shoes to fill at the point of attack.”

For Roberts, that means continuing to build on the progress that earned him early reps this spring while embracing the expectations that come with the position. Bailey made it clear those expectations are not reserved for veterans.

“No one has higher expectations than he does for himself,” Bailey said. “But the expectation is the expectation.”

And for the Ohio State Buckeyes, that expectation has most certainly not changed.