COLUMBUS, Ohio — Having just wrapped up his 14th season as a head coach, Urban Meyer knows better than to compare.
After all, what’s the upside to setting unfair expectations on one of his players to be the next Tim Tebow, or on one of his teams to be the next 2008 Florida Gators? Meyer’s seen those unrealistic standards devour “the next Percy Harvin,” and even his own expectations for seasons before.
So when the fourth-year Ohio State head coach broke his own rule and compared his outlook of the 2016 season to that of a recent Buckeyes team, it should have raised some eyebrows. Especially considering that Meyer said his program’s current situation reminds him of where Ohio State found itself two years ago, before going on to win the first-ever College Football Playoff.
“Very similar to the 2014 team,” Meyer said of his 2016 squad. “That was a team of development. That was a team where Eli Apple and Vonn Bell, Darron Lee and guys who either redshirted or didn’t have a big input in 2013…you saw a steady improvement. And obviously it culminated in a pretty good finish.”
So much so that Apple, Bell and Lee—as well as six other underclassmen and a senior class responsible for a 50-4 record over the course of the past four seasons—now find themselves headed to the NFL as a part of an expected mass exodus of talent in Columbus.
The cupboards aren’t bare—they never are when Meyer’s in charge of your recruiting—but even the…
Continue Reading: Urban Meyer’s Plan to Overcome Ohio State’s Massive NFL Departures in 2016
