Buckeyes Share Favorite Moments and Memories of Urban Meyer
The Rose Bowl being Urban Meyer’s last game as Ohio State’s head coach, there has been a multitude of reflection. Meyer himself has tried to remain focused on giving his players the best he has to offer, so his time for reflection will come after the game.
When asked to talk about his legacy or to look back on his time at Ohio State, Meyer generally deflects the question and defers to the task at hand. He doesn’t want to have his mind anywhere other than this final game.
For his players, however, when they are asked about their head coach and what he has meant to them, they have had no hesitations in answering.
Each player has taken his own path at Ohio State and no journey is exactly the same. Each of them, however, has had their steps altered by Urban Meyer, and those are the memories that mean the most to them.
Through the wins, the trophies, the rings, and touchdowns, the favorite memories and moments from the players have ranged from encouragement to go win the game, to a play call in a spring game, to simply seeing Meyer’s expression after a win over Michigan.
Every single player has a unique favorite moment with Meyer. The memories are all different and yet equal in the eyes of those who experienced them.
“It’s kind of corny but it was in my first spring game here,” senior H-back Parris Campbell reminisced. “We were probably on like the 10-yard line going in and they called a play for me and he came up to me and gave me some motivation and told me to stick my foot in the ground and go score a touchdown.
“I did that and he came up to me and gave the biggest hug and said he was proud of me and that I had a future at Ohio State. It’s kind of corny but it was something that meant a lot to me at that point.”
Meyer is known as a master motivator and that motivation takes many forms. For Campbell, that positive encouragement is a lasting memory. For fellow H-back KJ Hill, his favorite moment with Meyer was one of stark reality.
“I’ve got a couple, but one day I was a freshman and I forget what I did. I probably missed an assignment or something,” Hill said. “He came up to me all calm and said, ‘Do you want to go home? Do you want to go back to Arkansas? It’s not too late to transfer. I was like, ‘What?’ I will never forget that. It stands out because he didn’t yell. He was so calm, but he was so serious at the same time. I didn’t know if it was a joke or if he was being serious.”
What if Meyer would have taken the extra step and had some paperwork in his hands?
“I would’ve been shook mentally,” Hill said with a laugh.
When Hill looks back on his time with Meyer, it won’t necessarily be the games that he’ll remember most. It will be everything else.
“It’s more off the field than on the field because Coach Meyer helps you grow from a little boy to a grown man,” he said. “It’s the thing that I would want to take away from [my time with] Coach Meyer.”
Some of those favorite memories happen the very first time they meet Urban Meyer. For some players, first impressions are everything.
“There’s a lot of memories I have of him,” said junior defensive end Jonathon Cooper. “When I first met him when I was a recruit, and I walked in with my mom, sit down. He’s just such a cool dude. I didn’t know what to expect. I’m like, ‘Okay, this is Coach Meyer.’ He said, ‘Are you sure you want to come here? Are you sure you’re going to be able to take it? It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be hard.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, of course, of course. I got it.’ He was like, ‘You seem confident,’ and I said, ‘I am.’
“Man, those first couple of weeks I was like, ‘Okay, this is what it is.’ There’s a lot of memories I have of Coach Meyer, man. He’s just a great guy. I know the guys are all gonna be feeling the same way when the game hits zero.”
Cooper wasn’t the only Buckeye whose favorite memory occurred on the recruiting trail. Running back Mike Weber was once committed to Michigan, but didn’t stick with the Wolverines and ultimately signed with the Buckeyes.
Weber’s favorite memory took place during this process.
“I had just decommitted from Michigan,” Weber said. “I was with Coach Harbaugh at the time and [Meyer] called me. I told him I was with [Harbaugh]. He kind of made a big deal out of it. I won’t go into too much details. That was just a real funny moment for me.”
Other moments are much more recent and much more innocuous.
“The other day when he pulled my hair,” redshirt freshman defensive back Shaun Wade said.
The simple nature of it revealing a bond between a player and a coach that has nothing to do with the football field.
“He walked behind me and pulled my hair on the left side,” he said, “and I was about to yell at the person, but he was trying to sneak past me, but I ended up catching him.”
The playful moments stick out because of the amount of hard work that goes in to being a Buckeye.
“I would say the thing I’ll remember about him most are his stories and the way he tells them and how animated he gets,” redshirt sophomore middle linebacker Tuf Borland said. “I think he’s pretty funny at times. I know a lot of the guys think the same way. That’s one thing that will stick with me.”
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