National Basketball Association

Urban Meyer reflects on recruiting LeBron James the football player

Published Jun. 2, 2016 5:45 p.m. ET

Aaron Torres

As good of a basketball player as LeBron James is --- and there are many who believe he's already one of the two or three best to ever play the game --- legend has it was that LeBron was just as good at football and could have had near-equal success if he'd focused solely on that sport instead of basketball.

However, as we learned Thursday, it's not a myth so much as fact -- at least according to one guy who recruited him way back in the day: Ohio State coach Urban Meyer.

At the time, Meyer was the wide receivers coach at Notre Dame, and he described to ESPN what it was like to see a young football-playing LeBron nearly two decades ago:

"He" of course was LeBron James. And before Meyer could even think about making a scholarship offer, LeBron's high school coach brought him back to reality: He wouldn't be playing football much longer.

As it turns out, LeBron's high school football coach wasn't too far off.

It also means that even as LeBron gets set to open the seventh NBA Finals of his career, many across football are left wondering "what if" he'd put his focus solely on their sport.