Urban Meyer Reacts to Big Ten Reinstating Fall Season

Former Ohio State head coach, and current assistant athletics director, Urban Meyer joined the Big Ten Network this morning to provide his thoughts on the league reinstating a fall season. See below for his comments:

ON INITIAL REACTION:

“First and foremost, it’s great for the players. Our president, Dr. Kristina Johnson, is a former student-athlete and made a comment recently that I will never forget. Because she played sports, she spoke about the opportunity to go compete with your teammates for a championship. She would give everything up in order to do it again. So, why did this thing go down? Because you have leadership like that. I’m so happy for the players.

ON THE CHALLENGE OF GETTING A TEAM READY:

“The fundamentals looked really poor to me when I watched games on Saturday. I saw poor tackling, blocking and special teams looked horrendous at times. You can expect a little bit of that early because everyone’s routine has been blown apart. No spring practice and stop-start for training camp. I know Coach Day understands they have to be on point with fundamentals the next few weeks. There will be a fine line of how t oget your team ready without getting players hurt. If the first time you get hit is the first time you go live at end of October, that won’t go well.”

ON BALANCING ACT OF A COACH RETURNING TO PLAY:

“I would challenge my staff and position coaches to tell me how many reps you need to get guys ready. Don’t go over those reps, but we need to get there. Tuf Borland has been around for years, so that is much different than some young cat coming in. I would go through, in great detail, what returning players and new players need in terms of live competition. But it depends on what kind of team you have. Michigan State is much different than Ohio State for example.”

ON THE DYNAMIC OF SHAUN WADE AND WYATT DAVIS, PLAYERS HE RECRUITED, RECENTLY OPTING OUT ALONG WITH OTHER STANDOUTS IN GENERAL ACROSS THE COUNTRY:

“You are talking about not just great player, but great people with parents that are very involved in the right way. They come from strong families and, I imagine, will revisit this now. I don’t know for sure, but the opportunity to win championships is a game changer. Going back to what Dr. Johnson said… To be in the locker room and putting yourself arm-in-arm with people to win a championship, it’s hard to truly value or price that.”

ON BIGGEST THING THAT STANDS OUT AFTER EVERYTHING THE BIG TEN HAS EXPERIENCED:

“The power of player. The power of Justin Fields and the power of those families. I’m biased because I think Gene Smith is as good as there is, but I give Scott Frost and others credit too. I understand James Franklin was very instrumental in this. When someone tells you we aren’t going to do this… If you, in your heart, believe that’s not right, then keep swinging. Be respectful, but keep swinging. I think it was the prototype for how to get something changed that everyone felt was not right.”

Stay tuned to BuckeyesNow and all of our social media outlets (@BuckeyesNowSI) on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for continued coverage!