Cincinnati is adding Nate Meyer, son of national championship-winning college football coach Urban Meyer, as a walk-on wide receiver, coach Luke Fickell told ESPN on Thursday.
Nate Meyer, who has been an outfielder on Cincinnati's baseball team, will be a junior this fall.
He played football at Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, Ohio, while his father was Ohio State's football coach. Urban Meyer played football at Cincinnati, graduating in 1986, and also played minor league baseball in the Atlanta Braves organization.
Urban Meyer said his son has been kicking around the idea of playing football and then transitioning into coaching the sport for a couple of years now.
"He loved football and became enamored with it in high school, went to a very good program and had a very good experience," Urban Meyer told ESPN on Thursday. "As a young kid, he wasn't really interested in football at all. My daughters were more into the football scene than he was, but then he really got enamored with it. He started training with the team, and that's when he fell in love with the locker room, the people, the intensity, the weight training."
When Meyer and his wife, Shelley, first learned that Nate was serious about getting into coaching, "it was like, 'Oh boy, here we go,'" Meyer joked.
Several conversations ensued between Meyer and Shelley, concerning everything that goes into coaching.
"Yes, it's hard work. Yes, you're in the public eye, but you know what ... it's also been incredible, and you're doing what you love to do," Urban Meyer said. "We've always challenged our kids to not let money drive you. Let your passion drive you, and he's very passionate about it."
Meyer replaced Fickell as Ohio State's coach after the 2011 season, and Fickell remained on Meyer's staff as the Buckeyes' co-defensive coordinator before taking the Cincinnati job in December 2016.
Urban Meyer led Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State, winning three national titles and seven conference titles, before retiring in December 2018.
ESPN's Chris Low contributed to this report.
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