Eddie McGuire’s son Joe making his own mark in the football world
Joe McGuire is taking massive steps to emerge from his famous dad’s imposing shadow in the cutthroat US college football system.
It’s rarely easy for children of famous figures to forge their own path away from their mum or dad’s imposing shadow.
But Joe McGuire is managing to do just that, a world away from the unmissable glare that emanates from his TV and AFL personality father, Eddie.
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After starting his career as a journalist, Eddie McGuire famously went on to host a variety of prominent Aussie TV shows and become the president of his beloved Collingwood Magpies.
While Joe is also closely linked with sport, it is American football that caught the eye of the imposing 188cm, 96kg youngster, rather than Aussie Rules.
After encouragement from a childhood friend during the pandemic, Joe tried out for the Prokick academy run by former AFL player Nathan Chapman that has produced a number of Australian punters in the US college and NFL systems.
The rest is history, with the 23-year-old finding his way to the vaunted Ohio State University program for the start of the 2023 season, spending a year on the bench learning his craft.
The Buckeyes have won eight national titles and McGuire initially expected to remain on the bench to start 2024.
But he got a late call-up for the team’s opening game against Akron and has now played all six Ohio State games to date this year.
Joe told the Herald Sun he has started to get recognised around Columbus, Ohio, and is thrilled to be making his own way in the incredibly competitive world of American college sport.
“What the world is like at the moment, anything I did in Melbourne there are going to be some people who say you only did that because of your dad,” McGuire said.
“This is just one thing that it just does not matter who your dad is or whatever.
“You have to put in the work and you have to be good enough, or else there’s just no way they play you at a school like this.”
McGuire and the No. 4 ranked Buckeyes won five straight games to start the new season before dropping their first match last weekend, a 32-31 heartbreaker against fellow juggernaut and second-ranked Oregon.
Typically only called upon two-to-three times per game, McGuire has taken 16 punts to date and is averaging 41.3 yards (37.8 metres) per punt, ranking him exactly 100th in the country.
He said he began this journey “75kg (and) super skinny” before piling on the weight he needed to hold his own as a football player.
One person who has naturally watched Joe’s progress closely is proud dad Eddie.
“It was very impressive to watch a young kid have a go at this outlandish sort of dream,” Eddie said.
“He literally started from scratch … and now he’s playing in front of 100,000 every week.
“He’s on the dean’s list academically, which is obviously important in our household, and now he’s the starting punter.
“My wife and I are in awe of the effort, the dedication and the professionalism he put into it.”
The Buckeyes have produced a long line of NFL professionals and have also sent 40 players and coaches to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Joe concedes that just about everyone that joins a program with the prestige of Ohio State has an eye on turning professional, but he’s trying not to get too far ahead of himself.
“There’s no real job security, I suppose … it forces you to be on your game all the time,” he said.
“I’m going to work as hard as I can to be as good as possible and if that means I make it to the NFL, then fantastic.
“Anyone who steps foot in Ohio State especially, they’re lying if they tell you that’s not their goal.
“But the main focus is keeping my job at the moment … and helping the team as much as possible and hopefully we can get all the way to winning a national championship.”
The College Football playoffs have expanded from four teams to 12 for the first time this year.
McGuire and the Buckeyes will be aiming to rebound from their one-point loss to the Ducks when they host Nebraska at Ohio Stadium on October 27.
Read much more about the McGuire family’s journey in the Herald Sun here.
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