Wilson Hall's do-everything star Meyers ready to shine again after ACL injury
The Wilson Hall football team made an incredible run to the SCISA 3A state championship game a year ago. While they finished as runners-up, the season was made even more impressive when you consider the void the Barons had in the middle of their defense.
Owen Meyers, Wilson Hall's leading tackler as a sophomore, missed almost his entire junior year after tearing his ACL against Laurence Manning. Despite the injury, he was the team's most ardent supporter on the sidelines, doing whatever he could do to help the team.
That may be Owen's greatest attribute. He's an incredible athlete with a combination of strength and speed that makes him a weapon at inside linebacker, but it's his willingness to do whatever is asked of him that impresses head coach Adam Jarecki.
"He's always been the quiet leader that leads by example. People kinda lean on him. Whatever role he has, he's done it well," Adam said. "I know it hurt. It was tough for him because I think he felt that we had something special going on and he was a big part of it. He wanted to be in the middle of it. It's tough for anybody to get hurt, especially early in the year and to go through that. He was still a big part of it. He was at practice every day. He's out there talking to guys about different things. He still had his role."
BORN TO BE A LINEBACKER
From an early age, Owen was built to be a star defensive football player.
He had an excellent example in his older brother, Jake, who shined as an outside linebacker for the Barons. The family's passion for football grabbed Owen early, and Jake made sure it never let go.
"There are three boys in our family, and we are very, very close. I had them out in that front yard playing football at a very young age, especially Owen," Jake said. "He loved the game as soon as he could run with a football in his hand. We both just kind of bonded on that, we both love sports, both love watching sports, playing sports, especially football. It means a lot to our family."
As Jake was suiting up for the Barons, Owen always had a front-row seat.
"He was my role model; I looked up to him. Playing football in the end zone was always my favorite thing on Friday nights," Owen said. "He would beat up on me because he's eight years older than me, so it would be hard, but I would get him down a couple times."
Jake laid a pathway for Owen as the starting outside linebacker for the Barons. Owen followed closely in those footsteps.
"Owen has always wanted to do whatever his big brother did. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Jake said with a chuckle. "Obviously, we're brothers, and genetics play a role in that. We were both just kind of good at the same things, but he definitely loved defense from an early age because that's just all he watched me ever do. He just had an eye for the ball and knew how to attack it."
Adam and the rest of the Wilson Hall coaching staff knew they had a special player in the pipeline as Owen grew up. His class dominated every level, going undefeated on the B-team before a perfect season as freshmen on JV. When Wilson Hall faced Laurence Manning to cap off the varsity regular season Owen's freshman year, he was thrust into action and shined. He led the team with 13 tackles.
"I was like, 'OK, I can do this,'" Owen said, noting that game as a turning point for his career.
While it may have shocked some people to see a freshman making a major impact against the Barons' biggest rivals, it was par for the course in the eyes of his older brother.
"I wasn't really surprised. Owen is a very, very good athlete. He's kind of a sneaky athlete in a way because he's quiet and more shy," Jake said. "From an early age, I always knew he was going to be a lot better than I was at football. He was just an athlete from the start. I wasn't surprised at all."
Owen carried that momentum into a spectacular sophomore season. He moved to inside linebacker and proved to be a force in the middle of the defense, leading the Barons with 94 tackles. He was primed for a repeat performance as a junior, but everything changed early in the season.
START OF AN ACL AVALANCHE
Midway through Wilson Hall's second game of the season, a matchup with the rival Swampcats, Owen started what proved to be an unfortunate trend for the Barons. He tore his ACL and missed the remainder of the season. Soon after, other Barons started dropping like flies to knee injuries, as Slade Custer and Dylan Jones both ended their seasons prematurely.
"I didn't really like watching, but you have to do what you've got to do, cheer on your teammates," Owen said of the situation. "They did a great job last year; we got to state. We had two other guys tear their ACL, so I think during state championship, that kind of caught up to us."
Owen didn't go home and mope after the injury. After surgery, he was in a wheelchair for a few days and attacked the rehab process as soon as he was able. He went over to APEX in Columbia two days a week for rehabilitation and was at practice or games with the Barons every other day. Jake was incredibly impressed by the way his brother kept his spirits high.
"That was more tough on our entire family than we really expected. Football just means a lot to us, and I know how much I loved it when I was in varsity," Jake said. "When I saw Owen have to sit on the sidelines watching a sport that he loves to play so much, it really stunk, but Owen handled it the best he could. He was still at every game supporting his team and was so excited. He never one time told me that he was upset about it. He really leaned on his faith and said, 'This is just kind of God's plan. It happens to athletes, and I know that I can get back out there next year. I've just got to take some time to heal.'
"For him to go through the injury, he handled it better than anybody else, especially me. I was so bummed out for him. I just felt so bad because that's what Owen loves to do; he loves to play sports and perform, and he's good at it."
Owen worked tirelessly to get ready for his senior season. By the end of the year, he was back throwing with Adam.
"He really worked hard through the rehab," said the Baron head coach. "We started throwing right after Christmas break. He wasn't released, but he could do some things straight ahead and we were throwing balls then, doing everything he was allowed to do at the time."
By the time the Barons started their fall practices, Owen was a different athlete.
"He used that offseason to completely transform his body. I don't want to say he was a little kid; he was obviously a very skilled football player and big enough to play out there at middle linebacker as a starter, but he used that offseason to his advantage," Jake said of his brother. "He hit the gym harder than he's ever hit the gym, put on more weight, more muscle than ever before. He got faster, stronger, and he just used that time where he couldn't do anything else and attacked rehab and physical therapy. He turned into a man within a year.
"Most people would've taken that injury and sat on the couch for a year until it healed, and he decided to attack physical therapy and do the best he could with the opportunity in the moment."
Adam didn't expect Owen to sulk during the time away. He continued to be a shining example for his teammates through every step of the process.
"He's not that kind of guy," Adam said. "He's very well respected with his teammates. They look up to him. He's just one of those special kind of guys that they all feed and thrive off of him. Him having a role like last year, it's not exactly what he wanted to do for him, personally, but it still was a contribution that we had to have.
"He was never not a part of it. That made the transition to this year even easier for him. We never missed him; he was always there."
On top of the physical hurdle, the mental challenge of trusting your knee after ACL surgery can be the most difficult step in the process. Owen never let that get to his head.
"I got used to it pretty quick," he said. "I wasn't very scared like I thought I would be. I trusted it way more than I thought going into it."
NEW ROLE AS A SENIOR
Owen has always been a malleable athlete, but he's taking that to a new level as a senior.
He's back in the middle of the Baron defense, but he's also going back to the position he held on junior varsity: starting quarterback.
Owen was able to learn behind Clark Kinney for the past couple of years, but he's taking the bull by the horns as a two-way player this fall.
"You've just got to be in shape. It's going to be tiring, and I've got to get through that," Owen said of the challenges of playing both quarterback and linebacker. "I think I'm going to stay at linebacker and (backup quarterback) Ford (Wilder) can get some reps if I'm tired, but I'm going to work through that. I was surprised Coach Jarecki let me do that, but he understands that defense is really important to me."
For Adam, it wasn't really a question. He needs his best athlete to impact the game whenever possible.
"To tell you how valuable he is to us, our best defensive player for the last couple of years, we're playing him at quarterback because he's that good of an athlete that we need him on that side of the ball, too," Adam said. "It's just a tribute to the kind of athlete he is."
Jake can attest to the level of Adam's praise for his brother.
"It's impressive. I don't think Coach Jarecki has ever allowed a quarterback to play defense, or at least start on defense, because usually everybody tries to keep your quarterback safe," Jake said. "But I think he plays such a vital role in their defense, it's really hard to not play him in that role. But it is very impressive. It takes a lot of conditioning, and we're still early off in the season, so we'll see how it plays out. It just shows a lot of how hard Owen works and how dedicated he is because he wants to do whatever's going to help his team."
Owen just wants to help the team win; he doesn't really care what position he's playing. Adam appreciates having a leader with that mindset.
"I don't ever look at him that worried about where he was. I feel like he would always do whatever the team needed," Adam said. "He's just very multi-talented. He was our long snapper last year, he's the other quarterback, he played B-back, he's a staple on defense as an inside linebacker for us. He's just been a tremendous athlete, and he just has a nose for the ball. I just think he can do anything. He can long snap, and he can throw it nine miles. He runs pretty good for a bigger guy, he's strong, he works hard. He's quiet, but he's been an instrumental part of everything."
There have been some bumps in the road already. Owen didn't make it to halftime in the Barons' season opener against Orangeburg Prep. He made a big hit on defense and initially felt fine. The senior led Wilson Hall to a touchdown on the ensuing drive, but his head started to hurt, and he spent the rest of the game on the bench. It was a scary moment for the Meyerses.
"We were obviously very nervous," Jake said. "We didn't know. We saw him sit on the sidelines and go to the doctors. We were a little nervous at first that maybe it was his knee bothering him or whatever. Not that a head injury is any better, but we were relieved that it was a minor head injury, and we were relieved that his knee wasn't bothering him.
"There's probably going to be a few setbacks like that throughout the season just because he did take a year off last year and he's just kind of getting back in the swing in the full speed of a football game. But no, he handled that well, and luckily, we still pulled out a win."
Owen has big expectations for his senior year. He and his classmates have only known winning at Wilson Hall, and he doesn't plan for that to suddenly end in his final season.
"I want to make that extra push. My sophomore year, we went in the semifinals. We lost to Florence Christian. Last year, we obviously lost in state. And hopefully this year we'll win in state, and that'll finish it out," he said. "As a team, we've got to go 1-0 every week. Coach Jarecki goes by that, and I definitely believe in that, too. There are weeks where you definitely want to beat the other team badly. Our rival is LMA, and the big 3A team this year is Pinewood. My goal, and I guess the team goal, is we've got to go all the way."