Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer spoke on Tuesday’s Big Ten coaches teleconference. He provided some updates on his football team and also looked ahead to Saturday’s matchup in Ann Arbor against the Michigan Wolverines. Here are the highlights.
+ Meyer gets asked about Baker Mayfield on the B1G teleconference. His answer? “We’re playing the team up north.”
+ UM DT Maurice Hurst is outstanding. He’s been great for a couple of years now.
+ Dante Booker will practice today. He’ll be cleared.
+ When you recruit quarterbacks, you’d like to think they could be four-year starters. You try to take one in each class, develop them, and then have good competition at that spot.
+ Is it amazing to have a QB play four games against Michigan? “It doesn’t happen very often. This is going to be a critical game for his career.”
+ Meyer learned about the rivalry as a graduate assistant at Ohio State and took that with him to every other job. “I’ve always had great respect for rivalries.” That’s what makes college football standout among other sports.
+ You have respect for the rival and that causes you to work harder to prepare for them. “The best way to respect it is to play hard and prepare the best way you can.”
+ What concerns him most about UM’s offense? The running game. “Their tailback is an outstanding player.” The interior offensive line is very good. They do a lot of movement and shifting the gap, so they’ve been working on that.
+ All three UM QBs are similar, so it doesn’t pose a huge problem not knowing who will play. The Michigan offense is what it is. They won’t change their system based on the quarterback.
+ Special teams are much better than earlier in the season. The kickoff unit is outstanding. Michigan is very aggressive on their punt blocks, and that’s always an important part of this game.
+ “He’s a man’s man. He’s been that way since we’ve known him.” — Meyer re: J.T. Barrett.
+ Meyer believes winning this game has a recruiting impact, but maybe not as much as people might think. It certainly has a place in the recruiting world.