Purdue\u2019s 45-0 loss<\/a> at the Shoe 52 weeks ago, the tight end from Gulford, Indiana, never would have guessed he\u2019d be playing against the Boilermakers as a Buckeye a year later.\n<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cOh no, not at all,\u201d Klare said when asked if he envisioned himself playing for Ohio State a year ago. \u201cIt’s definitely a surreal moment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tKlare has multiple reasons to be excited for this weekend\u2019s trip to West Lafayette. While most of his teammates from last year are no longer with the program, with many of them joining Klare in the transfer portal during Purdue\u2019s coaching transition from Ryan Walters to Barry Odom, his\u00a0brother Luke Klare still plays for the Boilermakers \u2013 and actually had the role of simulating his older brother on Purdue\u2019s scout team this week.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tKlare says it will \u201cbe a little weird\u201d to run out of the opponent\u2019s tunnel at Ross-Ade Stadium after playing for the home team for three years, but his return to his former school is a game he\u2019s been anticipating all season.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI’ve looked forward to it,\u201d Klare said. \u201cIt’s gonna be fun to go back. Obviously, my brother’s still on the team so that’s very exciting for the family, and also for me to see him out there, it’ll be cool. So I’m really excited about it. It should be a good time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tAfter leading Purdue with 51 catches for 685 yards and four touchdowns last season, Klare has been a complementary player in his first year at Ohio State. Playing between two elite wide receivers in Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, Klare has just 21 catches for 210 yards and one touchdown in the Buckeyes\u2019 first eight games of the season.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tDespite the decrease in targets, Klare remains happy to be a Buckeye. After playing on a 1-11 team last season, Klare is on an 8-0 team with aspirations of winning a second straight national championship. And Klare believes playing for Ohio State has made him a more well-rounded player.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI think I’ve gotten a lot better in every aspect,\u201d Klare said. \u201cJust keep growing my game and getting better each week.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile Klare\u2019s had a lot to learn as he\u2019s adjusted to play in a new offense this season, he says he\u2019s gotten \u201cmore and more comfortable\u201d as the year has progressed.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt’s slowing down more and more, and the more you’re in it, the more it’s going to slow down for sure,\u201d Klare said.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt’s definitely a surreal moment.\u201d\u2013 Max Klare on returning to Purdue\n<\/p>\n
\n\tKlare also thinks he\u2019s grown from being in a deep tight end room with the likes of Will Kacmarek, Bennett Christian, Jelani Thurman and Nate Roberts.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI think we all just lean on each other, and we push each other every day,\u201d Klare said. \u201cThat competition creates a lot of different things, and we’re just working to get better with each other. So it’s a lot of fun.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tKlare\u2019s peers in the tight end room have seen him improve throughout the season, particularly in run blocking, where his Pro Football Focus grade this season (73.4) is nearly 20 points better than last year at Purdue (53.8).\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI think every game he’s played better and better, especially in his run blocking,\u201d Christian said. \u201cI think he’s worked a lot on that in practice and after practice, and I think it’s really showing on the field.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tRyan Day has also seen consistent growth from Klare and believes the best is yet to come for the redshirt junior.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI think Max has a lot of talent. I think one of the best things for Max is being at Ohio State, he’s been challenged every day, and because of that, he’s becoming a better football player,\u201d Day said. \u201cThe tight end position is a developmental position, and Max is somebody that wants to be able to do everything. He wants to be able to block like an offensive lineman, run around like a receiver and protect like a running back. And that’s not easy to do. It takes time. It takes development. When you look at the tight ends in the NFL, they come from all different backgrounds and stories, and I think Max is another example of that.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSo he’s getting better each week. And I think his best football\u2019s still ahead of him, which is exciting.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tKlare will have extra motivation to continue his improvement this week, as he expects to have a large contingent of family members in the stands at Ross-Ade Stadium \u2013 though he doesn\u2019t know which team they\u2019ll be rooting for as he goes head-to-head with his brother.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI think they’ll kind of be split down the middle,\u201d Klare said. \u201cWhoever\u2019s winning, I think they’ll root for them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tIf Saturday\u2019s game goes the way the season has gone so far\u00a0for Ohio State and Purdue, the Klare family will likely be rooting for the Buckeyes. Ohio State looks to improve to 9-0 while Purdue looks to earn its first Big Ten win of the year. The Buckeyes and Boilermakers meet at Ross-Ade Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m. with Big Ten Network televising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the second Saturday of November 2024, Max Klare played at Ohio Stadium as a Purdue Boilermaker. On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-278172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}