BOWLING GREEN — Austin Osborne still remembers the “aha” moment.
It was September, 2016, and the Bowling Green wide receiver’s Mission Viejo High School team was taking on Oak Hills in a battle of southern California foes. It was the first game of Osborne’s senior year, and his team was trailing 21-19.
The receiver watched his quarterback, a senior by the name of Matt McDonald, drop back and showcase the talent that made him a three-star recruit out of high school.
“He threw like a 60-yard touchdown, it was corner post,” Osborne said. “All I remember is Matt coming down the field and screaming at me. He damn near tackled me. We had so many memories like that.”
McDonald and Osborne were together at Mission Viejo in 2016, helping the Diablos to an 11-1 record and the quarterfinals of Southern California’s high school playoffs. Now they are together again at Bowling Green, which opens its 2022 season at UCLA, in the Rose Bowl, just 57 miles northwest of the duo’s old stomping grounds.
“It’s awesome. I’ve always dreamed of playing in that stadium,” McDonald said. “I dreamed of playing in the [USC] cardinal and gold, beating the Bruins, but life’s crazy. I took a little different route, but I still get to do it.”
McDonald and Osborne share the common thread of being late-comers to the Falcons, relatively speaking. McDonald spent two seasons at Boston College before transferring to Bowling Green, while Osborne originally went to Washington.
At Mission Viejo, however, the dynamic was different.
Osborne was an established contributor, while McDonald transferred in from powerhouse Mater Dei in Santa Ana. Immediately, the two players clicked.
“Matt’s always had this natural ability as a great leader,” Osborne said. “He came into Mission Viejo his senior year and took charge of that team. We followed him, and that’s the same theme with what we’re doing this year. We’re following Matt.”
Mission Viejo athletic director Troy Roelen, who had a front-row seat to the brief McDonald-Osborne era, noticed the impact of their connection right away.
“What’s really nice about them was always their relationship not only on the field, but off the field,” Roelen said. “We’re talking about two really great kids with strong foundations and great, supportive families.”
In the case of McDonald, that family is southern California football royalty. His father, Paul, finished sixth in the Heisman voting with the Trojans in 1979; Matt will become the fourth member of the family to play in the Rose Bowl.
Paul McDonald saw the seeds of McDonald and Osborne’s friendship growing right away.
“They’re like two peas in a pod,” Paul McDonald said. “Matthew’s this very easygoing guy, very easy to get along with, and so is Austin. It’s just so cool and awesome that they ended up in college together.”
Their bond was sealed when Osborne entered the transfer portal in the spring of 2021.
McDonald, in between his first and second years with the Falcons, immediately went to work bringing his friend to Wood County.
“Matt was the first person that reached out to me,” Osborne said. “He recruited the living daylights out of me that first week. I remember Matt telling me that if you come here, the sky’s the limit for this team.”
Results were immediate: Osborne caught 64 passes in 2021 to rank sixth in the MAC.
Now, both players figure to make an impact on Bowling Green’s 2022 season — a season that will start with a sort of homecoming.
“I’m sure I’ll have goosebumps. I’m sure I’ll have chills down my spine,” Paul McDonald said. “To watch him, as an observer, will stimulate the thoughts and feelings that I had when I was playing on that field. It’s a lot more stressful watching your kid do it than when you’re doing it yourself.”
Regardless of what happens Saturday in the big return, the story of McDonald and Osborne seems destined to continue.
“We’re best friends. We’re roommates. I always know where he’s gonna be,” McDonald said. “It’s always good having him as a safety blanket.”
First Published September 2, 2022, 8:27 p.m.
