Nemeth on Gators’ squad

Perseverance has paid off for Marcus Nemeth.

The Struthers native, a freshman and redshirt walk-on to the University of Florida football team this season, will be on the sidelines when the Gators play Cincinnati in the 76th annual Allstate Sugar Bowl Classic on Jan. 1.

“This is the first time that I actually will be on the traveling squad because they figure I am a veteran of one season. I will be dressed and on the sidelines,” said Nemeth (5-foot-11, 217 pounds), a running back and fullback from Tarpon Springs (Fla.) High and a former Struthers Little Wildcats player.

After walking on to the Gators, he managed to persevere in his determination to show what he could do and make the team, and was selected during a private workout session.

Nemeth moved to Tarpon Springs five years ago when he was 14 with his mother, Nicole Nemeth, a 1990 graduate of Struthers High.

“I left in the summer before my freshman year. I had been planning to go to Mooney and I was working out with the Mooney freshmen on my own in the summer,” recalled Nemeth, who had played for the Struthers Little Wildcats about seven years ever since he was six years.

Nemeth will be joined in the Gator Bowl by two Youngstown-area players on the Cincinnati team — Derek Wolfe (6-5, 302), a starting sophomore defensive tackle from Beaver Local High and Lisbon; and Tomaz Hilton (6-3, 215), a reserve redshirt sophomore linebacker from The Rayen School.

Wolfe has started all 12 games and has 41 tackles, including 21 solo stops, with 8.0 tackles for losses and five sacks for 32 yards. He also has a fumble recovery.

Hilton has played in all 12 games with no starts and has 11 tackles, including seven solo stops.

The Bowl Championship Series meeting between No. 3 Florida (12-1) and No. 4 Cincinnati (12-0) will be at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans starting at 8:30 p.m., and will be nationally-televised on the Fox Network.

Florida is coached by Urban Meyer, a native of Ashtabula, who is in his fifth season with a 56-10 record.

Nemeth’s grandfather, Ray Nemeth of Struthers, said his grandson got a full academic scholarship to Florida.

“He was a running back for Tarpon Springs High, and a got a full-ride for academics, and walked on and made the team,” said Ray, a Youngstown native and a 1956 Chaney High graduate.

“He is a straight A student and wants to be an international attorney. His game plan is to go to Florida for four years and then Harvard University. He is a pre-law student.”

Ray, a Struthers fireman for 28 years before retiring, said that Marcus “was taking college classes when he was in the 10th grade. He is a very smart kid.”

Ray and his wife, Rosalie, a 1960 Struthers High grad, are hosting Nicole and Marcus for a Christmas visit.

Marcus said that Florida didn’t offer him a football scholarship when he was a senior at Tarpon Springs.

“I had gotten attention from [NCAA Division]-2 and D-3 schools, but I preferred to go to a D-I school and Florida,” said Nemeth. So, “I sent in my films. I was pretty much bugging them for a tryout, and they chose me out of the four kids that tried out [as walk-ons].”

He said that in order to get a tryout as a walk-on that he had “to bug them pretty hard. I had a private workout. But I know there were three other walk-ons that didn’t get picked.”

Nemeth learned an important lesson: Where there is a will, there is a way.

XJohn Kovach covers college athletics for The Vindicator. E-mail him at kovach@vindy.com.