LeBron James gets locker in Ohio State basketball facility

LeBron James may not have gone to college, but he definitely has strong ties to at least one school.

James, a native of Akron, Ohio, is a big Ohio State fan. In 2007, the school became the first to use his Nike logo for their basketball gear. They even gave him an honorary locker in their new $19 million basketball facilities, which were unveiled on Tuesday.

Needless to say, James is pleased with the development. He wrote the following on Instagram:

“SPECIAL S/O AD Gene Smith, Thad Matta, Urban Meyer and the rest of this unbelievable University we call “The Ohio State Buckeyes! O-H.. #ColumbusStandUp #Braxton4Heisman #WishIHadTheChanceToWearScarletAndRedInTheRoseBowlAndMarchMadness”

Yes, that’s James once again talking about his wish that he had played football in college. James played football in high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s in Akron and was an all-state wide receiver as a sophomore. Because of his incredible size, atelnt, and athleticism, there has been constant speculation about whether or not James could have played in the NFL. In fact, Urban Meyer says he once offered LeBron a football scholarship back when he was a receivers coach at Notre Dame and James was a sophomore in high school.

“We always want to pay our respects to him for what he did for us in ’07 in terms of we were the first LeBron school. And obviously we get tremendous product from him, and I know he’s very proud of what he does for us,” basketball coach Thad Matta told Cleveland.com. “He’s very proud of what we’ve done and just in terms of his name and being from Ohio and the fact we wear his gear, that’s important for us.”

Just advertising LeBron’s ties to the program has to be great for recruiting. What kid who comes through a tour of the facility wouldn’t be impressed by that? If you go play for the Buckeyes, you know LeBron will be supporting you. There has to be a lot of appeal with that.

Photo: Instagram/LeBron James