Right guard Nick Weber won’t have to worry about paying tuition after head coach Lane Kiffin placed him on scholarship Friday morning.

Weber, who has spent a majority of fall camp with the first-team offense, learned the news at the conclusion of practice.

“It’s a lot of stress relieved, like with money and all that stuff,” Weber said. “So now, you can really just focus on football and school at all times.”

In typical Kiffin fashion, Weber was called in front of the whole team after practice. Kiffin first made Weber apologize for a false start penalty earlier in practice, before breaking the news that the redshirt sophomore was on scholarship.

“I didn’t even jump offsides, so I was like ‘hmm,’” Weber said to reporters following practice. “But I just went with it.”

Weber joined the Owls as a walk-on in 2017 from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and was named a Spring top walk-on by the team in 2018.

“That was awesome,” said quarterback Nick Tronti. “He’s a good friend of mine. So happy for him. He works really hard, he’s been waiting for it and I couldn’t be happier.”

Weber made an appearance in all twelve of the Owls’ games last season, working his way up the depth chart with each week. He made his first start in the Owls’ final game against Charlotte.

Kevin Fielder is a contributing writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @TheKevinFielder