Urban Meyer shares one recruiting battle that he lost to Michigan that haunts him to this day

Urban Meyer never had issues getting the players he wanted when he coached at Florida and Ohio State. In fact, some will say Meyer was the best recruiter of his time, but there were some players who got away.

Recently, in an episode of the 'Triple Option' podcast, Rob Stone asked Meyer which player he really wanted but never landed. The first name out of Meyer's mouth was a former Michigan Wolverine -- Jabrill Peppers. Meyer also listed off CB Patrick Peterson and RB CJ Spiller from his time with the Gators.

"I'll give you 100 players," Meyer said. "You know, you talk about the Wolverines -- Jabrill Peppers. I wanted him bad. I thought he's a great player. The one that I would say probably is Patrick Peterson(LSU) at Florida. I had hime. I think he's going to be a Hall of Famer. And then the other one is CJ Spiller(Clemson) -- 25 miles from The Swamp. I love that kid. To this day we're still friends. If the Gators would've got that cat back in the 07-08 era, it wouldn't of been fair. The amount of talent we had on that team."

Peppers, who was a top player in his recruiting class, starred on the field for Michigan and was known as a Swiss Army Knife. Peppers primarily played safety and 'Viper' for the Wolverines, but Michigan used him as a wildcat QB, RB, and he was also a return specialist. During his time in Ann Arbor, Peppers took him several awards and was in Heisman consideration.

Despite being an all-world player for Michigan, Peppers left Ann Arbor not beating Ohio State -- or Meyer. But the former All-American has made a nice name for himself in the NFL. After starting his career with the Cleveland Browns, Peppers has settled in nicely with the New England Patriots and is one of the top players on the Patriots' defense.

Coach had his eyes on these guys, but they slipped away 👀 pic.twitter.com/mln9cAaJvf
— The Triple Option (@3xOptionShow) August 9, 2025

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