CHICAGO — Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer previously spoke during a press conference Tuesday morning, but later in the afternoon he sat down for a full hour of questions and answers. He talked Zach Smith, Dwayne Haskins, Dre’Mont Jones, and much, much more. You can check out the highlights below, or keep an eye on the Front Page for the entire video shortly.
+ Meyer is not yet prepared to say what Tate Martell needs to do to win the quarterback job.
+ There are 25 practices this fall camp, but after two weeks they have to begin moving forward with a starter at quarterback. Dwayne Haskins is expected to be the guy they move forward with.
+ Tuf Borland will not be ready for the opening of camp, but he won’t need much practice time to get back to full speed. He takes tons of mental reps and will be ready to play shortly after being cleared.
+ While there is a danger in playing Tate Martell this year, if he is one of the best players on the team, he has to play. They are concerned about the quarterback depth, however. The entire program could be jeopardized by a Martell injury.
+ Freshman quarterback Matthew Baldwin is doing well. The receivers love him.
+ Dwayne Haskins showed in front of millions of people last year that he has it in him to lead this program.
+ In response to a rumor that Michael Jordan would be the starting center this year, Meyer said that offensive guards are always working on their snapping, but Jordan took no reps there in the spring. Meyer said you always need four guys who can play the position.
+ The tight ends had a very good summer, all four of them.
+ Meyer said he was never told about the 2015 incident with Zach Smith and that it was not a factor in the decision to fire him.
+ When he was made aware of the 2009 incident, he contacted his supervisors and let them do their due diligence. Nothing fireable came back.
+ Meyer said he has no regrets of the way he handled the situation back then or in hiring Zach Smith.
+ Brian Hartline, who is currently a quality control coach, has the potential to be a very good coach. He is willing to do the little things.
+ Meyer has no concerns about replacing Zach Smith this late in the football calendar.
+ Freshman safety Marcus Hooker will be suspended for the first game this year following his DUI arrest.
+ Dante Booker is ready to roll and looks as good as he ever has. They will still bring him along slowly in camp, but Meyer is counting on him to contribute this season.
+ They have had dozens of conversations about what they’re going to do about kickoffs. They’re not entirely sure yet.
+ There is enough of a comfort level in Dwayne Haskins to run the ball with him, but it’s not to the level they had with J.T. Barrett.
+ Meyer said his first six years at Ohio State have been “awesome.” Building a program is exciting, but you have to make it exciting when you’re maintaining a program as well.
+ When it comes to recruiting, the current players are the best salesmen.
+ Following the spring, defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones was one of the top two players on the team. Last year he came out on third downs, but on Tuesday Meyer said, “I can assure you he’s not coming out.”
+ Meyer said freshman offensive tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere will be in the rotation this year.
+ There is “no doubt” that Brady Taylor is a legitimate option at center for the Buckeyes.
+ Mental health used to be a “middle-of-the-pack” issue for Meyer’s teams, but now it’s in his top four.
+ Over the offseason, the football program completely changed their policies on painkillers and their distribution.
Kick the damned thing through the back of the endzone. This is a horrible rule designed to have receiving teams fully able to wear skirts. Football is a violent sport and it’s supposed to be a violent sport, get the frigging stupid nonsense rules out of the game.
Still trying to figure out how to handle kickoffs huh… interesting. McCall should be the return guy. Quit angling the kickoff and just blast it to the end zone OR do a power squib kick (sends the ball bouncing down the field, totally disorients the return team because no one can know how the ball will bounce, gives turnover opportunities, and limits return yardage). Got it now?
The way to handle kickoffs:
Figure every coach will teach his kids if they catch it at the 16 or further upfield to trust their initial judgment and run it back if they see a lane or fair catch for the 25 if they’re not sure they can make that far.
Figure they’ll coach kids to fair catch everything from the 15 in because unless they’re VERY certain of a clear lane because the percentages are against them.
My solution to still be aggressive in kickoffs: Hit line drive kicks that are meant to hit the ground around the 25 but away from anyone on the receiving team. Put some Cameron Johnston (“English” Australian-style) on it to make the bounces much harder to field.
Hope for the receiving team to mis-play/mis-field the ball, giving you the chance to pin them OR on very lucky breaks a very long ‘onsides kick’ that puts your offense in position to score.
Worst-case is it squibs out-of-bounds or into the end zone unless your coverage team really misplays it badly.