Urban Meyer: Coach "would have gotten" LeBron James at Notre Dame

AKRON, Ohio, June 2 (UPI) -- Could have, should have, would have; but hypotheticals are still fun, especially when it comes to LeBron James attending college.

But playing football?

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer would have welcomed that. He said James would have suited up for Notre Dame had he not made the choice to quit the game for basketball while attending high school in Akron.

Meyer was then a wide receivers coach and recruiter for the Fighting Irish when he made a visit to St. Vincent-St. Mary in the late 90's, early 2000's. According to ESPN's Austin Ward, the coach walked into the school and watched video of James playing wide receiver, but had no idea who James was on the basketball court.

He proceeded to find James in the hall and asked him to come visit Notre Dame, before James' coach told Meyer that James had quit the game to focus on his best talent. Meyer later offered James a scholarship.

"Oh, no," Meyer told Ward. "If he would have played football, we would have got him."

James dominated on the high school gridiron, snatching 42 passes for 820 yards and seven scores his sophomore season and 61 passes for 1,245 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior.

Meyer has frequently attended Cleveland Cavaliers games and welcomes James along the Buckeyes sidelines, but he'll never know just how good James could have been in blue and gold or scarlet and grey. The coach's Twitter timeline is full of blatant cheering for the home state Cavs.