MERIDIAN — Nick Maher lined up and gazed at the defense.

His eyes swelled.

The opponent on this Friday night was leaving the North Catholic wide receiver one-on-one with the corner.

No safety help. Just Maher and the DB.

A recipe for disaster.

Predictably, Maher lifted his 6-foot-2, 200-pound frame high into the fall air, snagged the football between his hands and came down with a big reception.

“Sometimes I was surprised they were leaving me out there on an island like that,” Maher said before letting out a soft chuckle. “But I'm not complaining.”Maher made his reputation by turning those 50-50 balls into anything but 50-50.More like 99-1 for Maher.“I love that stuff,” he said. “Going up and getting those. It's the best.”He's so good at it because of his basketball background, he said.“I grew up playing basketball, so it's just sort of like going up and getting a rebound. You just have to be more physical and outman the other guy.”Maher was a nightmare to cover for opponents.As a senior this fall, he caught 29 passes for 550 yards and eight touchdowns. He had his best season as a junior, catching 46 passes for 853 yards and 12 TDs.North Catholic football coach Pat O'Shea said before the season that Maher never gets out-worked.“Nick has great hands and a great release off the line,” he said. “He makes good cuts during routes and is an awesome blocker.“He has become an all-around wide receiver, but also authentically loves the game of football. He loves it for the right reasons.”Maher is hoping to continue his love for the game at the next level.On Monday, Maher committed to West Virginia University.Maher opted to join WVU as a preferred walk-on, turning down scholarship offers from Duquense, Bucknell and Army.“I really liked the coaching staff; I think I built a really good relationship with them right away,” Maher said. “They have a rich history of walk-ons and it just made sense to me. It was about chasing my dream and playing at the highest level of football that I can.”Maher admitted the recruiting process was stressful, particularly with the cloud of COVID hanging over everything.He couldn't visit campuses or meet face-to-face with coaches.Ultimately, though, Maher decided on WVU because he wanted to bet on himself.“I just think if I would have gone to one of those other schools, I would have looked back and thought what could have been if I went to West Virginia,” he said.On Maher's recruiting page, his 40 time is listed at 4.61 seconds.Maher is already working on getting that time down to play in the speedy Big 12 Conference.“The No. 1 thing I'm going to focus on is improving my speed and quickness,” Maher said. “I just want to improve in every aspect. I have a trainer in Cranberry (Township) and he's great with that stuff.”Maher grew up in Meridian and didn't start playing football until he was in the seventh grade.In junior high, he was a tight end. In high school, he moved to wide receiver.It's the only position he wanted to play at the next level, even though some schools left the door open for him to play strong safety, where he was also a star for North Catholic.Catching passes over DBs is just too much fun for Maher to give up.He's hoping to do a lot of that again for the Mountaineers some day.“I've had a lot of people in my corner pushing me to be good and helping me along the way,” Maher said. “It feels good to make this decision. I feel comfortable with it and I'm just excited to get to work and start this next chapter.”

Maher