Ken Meir has studied six languages and lived in three countries. He’s proficient with coding, and he’s pursuing a career in cybersecurity.

But for now, outside the classroom and on the football field, Meir is just as interested in beating the player in front of him and turning things around at Temple.

“Winning, a lot of winning. That’s what I want to do,” Meir told OwlScoop. “That’s what I’m here for.”

Meir, a 6-foot-4, 305-pound transfer offensive lineman from Lindenwood, announced his verbal commitment to the Owls back on May 16 after a two-day official visit at Temple. Although he considered an offer from Eastern Illinois and took an official visit there, Meir said the relationships he built with new head coach K.C. Keeler, offensive coordinator Tyler Walker and offensive line coach Al Johnson prior to his visit to North Broad Street made his decision clear.

“I really believe in what Coach Keeler is building here at Temple,” Meir said.

Meir’s journey to Temple and to FBS football in the American Athletic Conference has involved some belief in himself, and a little early encouragement, too.

Up through eighth grade, Meir was more into swimming and had earned a black belt in Taekwondo. When the 6-1, 190-pound freshman got to Palo Alto’s Henry M. Gunn High School, the football team’s offensive and defensive line coach, AJ Delgado, approached Meir and asked if he wanted to play football.

“Sure,” Meir said. “Let’s give it a try. Give me the paperwork.”

With that, Meir had a spot on the junior varsity team. The following season, he was playing defensive end and guard at one of the nation’s best high schools, but one known more for its academics than its football. Meir eventually became a two-way and two-time, first-team all-league player. But the handful of FBS and FCS offers he once had started to become scarce during the Covid pandemic, so he played his first season at the College of San Mateo, about 20 minutes from home, and settled in as an offensive tackle.

The next year, Meir switched to defense at Foothill, a Bay Area community college where he registered two sacks, six tackles for loss and 24 total stops before jumping back over to the offensive line in his second season at Foothill and garnering First Team All-Conference and All-State Region II honors. At Foothill, Meir was teammates with current Temple linebacker Eric Stuart, and Stuart’s insight into the Owls’ program “was definitely a contributing factor” when it came time to make his decision last month, Meir said.

The steps Meir took in his three junior college seasons landed him an opportunity at Lindenwood, an FCS program in Saint Charles, Missouri that competes in the Ohio Valley Conference. Meir redshirted there this past fall and said the decision had more to do with wanting to preserve his eligibility. After he was the highest-graded guard during spring practices and the highest-graded overall offensive lineman in the program’s spring game, Meir decided to dip a toe in the NCAA transfer portal and loved what he saw from the scheme Walker was bringing with him to Temple, one that vaulted Montana State to the FCS national championship and produced 4,719 rushing yards, the most of anyone in the country.

“It was a lot of scheme fits with Coach Walker,” Meir said. “He's won a lot of a lot of games at Montana State, and he loves to run his outside zone. He complements that with power and counter, and that's kind of the things I really excel in -- outside zone, getting off the ball and punching people in the face.”

But when asked about his strengths as a player, Meir spoke first about pass protection.

“I don't give up a lot of pressures,” he said. “You give up a lot of sacks, it’s going to be a bad deal for the entire offense. If the quarterback is anxious, if he can't stand in the pocket and command the offense, it's going to be a bad day for the entire offense.”

Meir’s trip to Philadelphia for his Temple official visit was his first, and he’s on campus now getting acclimated to the university and meeting his new teammates. He has long been a fan of Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and the work the veteran NFL assistant has done in transforming the careers of players like former Australian rugby player Jordan Mailata, former Eagles guard Isaac Seumalo and current Eagles Pro Bowler Landon Dickerson.

Playing in the NFL would of course be a dream for Meir, but he said he’s also a person who prefers to take things one step at a time. For now, that means competing with incumbent interior linemen like Eric King and Jackson Pruitt for snaps in preseason camp when August comes around. Keeler mentioned more than a few times during spring ball that he was pleasantly surprised by what he saw from the offensive line during March and April, and the staff wanted to add depth to that room by adding players like Meir, as well as Georgia transfer Nic Reeves and Arkansas-Pine Bluff transfer C.J. Van Buren.

So much of Meir’s life has been about adaptability and handling change. His parents’ work led the family to Almaty, Kazakhstan and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates before they settled in Palo Alto, where Meir grew up. And after two previous junior college stops and an FCS season, Meir is 22 years old now with three years of eligibility remaining and looking forward to getting settled in at Temple and at the FBS level and looking to reverse the fortunes of a program coming off four consecutive 3-9 seasons.

The opportunity to play Division I football in the American this fall is one that will not be lost on Meir. He’s keenly aware that he’s the first D-I player to come of Gunn, an academic powerhouse far more than a football factory, since Adam Juratovac in 2005.

“So I’m an anomaly,” Meir said.

When Meir was at Gunn, he said the football program was on the verge of folding when he joined. By the time he was a senior, the team went undefeated under head coach Jason Miller for the first time in the program’s history. It brought the school national coverage and a 49er Foundation award.

“That was the first turnaround in my football career,” Meir said.

Now he’s hoping his next will be on North Broad Street.