HICKORY, N.C. — Luke Osteen believes that everything happens for a reason — not only in his life, but also in his newest athletic adventure.

Rolling with the twists and turns of his unique athletics journey, the former Catawba Valley Community College baseball product now finds himself as a member of the University of North Carolina football team this fall.

Osteen, who played two sports at Hough High School in Charlotte, was originally recruited by UNC to play football out of high school.

"At that time in high school, my goal was to play college football, but baseball came forward," said Osteen, who initially committed to play baseball as an outfielder at Florida State. "I always loved playing football. It was a dream of mine to play in college so to be able to come back around and get that opportunity was really special."

Osteen would eventually decommit from the Seminoles due to the COVID-19 pandemic and attend nearby Gardner-Webb. He started seven games as a freshman for the Bulldogs.

One year later, Osteen transferred to Catawba Valley Community College.

A 6-foot, 190-pound pitcher, Osteen appeared in four games during his lone season on the baseball diamond at CVCC, tallying a 1-1 record with a 1.80 ERA and nine strikeouts.

Despite his short tenure with the Red Hawks, Osteen learned a lot from his time at Catawba Valley.

"Being at CVCC was huge for me because it allowed me to learn a leadership role, get into that role and understand what it means to be a good teammate and help the guys out around me," he said. "I think that's important no matter what you're doing in life. I think that's something that really stuck with me alongside with working hard and working with the guy next to you. Going from a great program at CVCC to another fantastic program here at Carolina in both football and baseball, it wasn't as hard a transition because I was used to those same principles of what it takes to win and what it takes to be a good person and player."

Catawba Valley head baseball coach Marshall McDonald saw a unique talent and quality person in Osteen.

"We knew he was only going to be here for a year, but right away he assumed a leadership role — not only being older, but having experience being an impact guy at a Division I school," McDonald said. "He got voted captain by the team as a transfer, which doesn't happen very often. I haven't seen it happen before or since my time in this program. He also was one of the best overall athletes on the teams that I've coached. He could dunk a basketball, hit a home run right-handed or left-handed and was pitching anywhere from 91 to 93 miles per hour off the mound with big league stuff at times."

After transferring from CVCC to UNC to play baseball in the fall of 2023, Osteen eventually redshirted due to injuries as he watched his Tar Heel teammates make the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

It was during that time that his passion for the game of football reignited, prompting him to reach out to the Tar Heel football coaching staff that had recruited him in high school.

"I came up with reaching out to the UNC football program about getting back into football and seeing if there was an opportunity there," he said. "Towards the end of spring going into summer, they had found a spot on the roster for me to join the team."

Osteen wasn't nervous about his decision to switch sports, and he felt reinvigorated about his new football possibilities.

"There was a lot of excitement going into it," he said." There was some anxiousness not knowing exactly what I was getting into. I hadn't been at a college football practice, and I hadn't went through that type of regiment. Once I got into it, got used to the work and was around the coaches all the time, I really enjoyed it."

During the first couple of months of summer, Osteen did strength and conditioning five days a week with the Tar Heel football program in order to get his body ready for fall camp.

Osteen gained 15 pounds of muscle during that time and his body transformed from a starting pitcher on the mound to a wide receiver on the field.

"Going from being a pitcher the past couple of years to transitioning back to that football body was definitely different," he said. "I wouldn't say it was hard. We train different movements and parts of our body in baseball than we do in football. It was honestly a smooth transition. It was pretty incredible to see how your body changes so fast going from one sport to another. I think my body has handled it better than someone would expect by taking that amount of time off from baseball and jumping back into football at an ACC level."

All of that hard work paid off in July when Osteen found out he'd made the UNC football team, following in his father's footsteps as a college football player.

"Going from Division I to JUCO to back to Division I, it's about the journey," he said. "It doesn't matter how you get there or what you're going through; it's about enjoying the process and journey and working through different injuries and situations. You never know what's going to happen. If you had told me two years ago that I'd be playing football at UNC, I would have never believed you. This has been a really cool journey that not many people have experienced or gone through."

McDonald wasn't shocked to hear the news that Osteen had made the Tar Heel football roster.

"It doesn't surprise me from the athletic sense," McDonald said. "It's definitely rare to do what he's doing after not putting on the football pads for six years and now going up against some of the best athletes in the country and world. He's made the roster. Now he has a lot of work to do to make the dress list and get playing time, but just to be considered one of the guys that they feel is good enough to get a chance to play is pretty impressive."

Three days removed from his birthday, Osteen will have another celebration of sorts on Thursday when he heads into his first college football game on the road against Minnesota.

"It's an incredible feeling," he said. "It's game week. It's something I haven't been able to experience in a long time — both in baseball and football — because of injuries. It's just a different feeling in football. That game day is only one time a week and goes on for a couple of weeks throughout the year unlike baseball where we play all year in multiple games. It's going to be a cool environment on Thursday in Minnesota. It's a prime time game. It's going to be awesome. I'm really excited about it and just excited for this year and the experience I'm getting here especially at such a special program at Carolina."

The Catawba Valley baseball program has some incredible achievements in its 15-year history, but adding its first Power Four football player is certainly one of its most unique accolades.

"I think it just shows not only the kind of people we bring into this program, but the type of athlete that is able to do something like that," McDonald said. "It takes all kinds of players to win. Luke is special, and he is different from most. He's able to do what he's done and make a life turn where most guys would have hung on."