Urban Meyer Claims He's 'Never Seen' Buckeyes Current Level of Recruitment
Former Ohio State Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer is a legend in Columbus. And rightfully so. He's one of the more successful coaches the program has seen, and also one of the more successful recruiters. That qualifies him to speak on the program's current recruitment situation.
Meyer is particularly impressed with Ryan Day and Brian Hartline's work with the quarterback and wideout positions.
"It kind of happened to me at Florida," Meyer said on "The Herd With Colin Cowherd" on Tuesday. "We started recruiting speed and I always made a comment I want to be the fastest team in America. And then you get good news or bad news. The good news is you have the most talented players in the country. Bad news, they got to touch the ball.
"So you have to get that ball in their hands. I’m not saying Ohio State’s less physical, but I’m saying you have a group and you are correct, Brian Hartline has recruited, and I did this a long time, I’ve never seen the level that the quarterback and receivers are recruited at Ohio State right now.
Meyer commented on his purposeful recruitment of speed, and how that sometimes backfired when it came to actual football talent. But he doesn't see that with the current roster.
"Everyone’s a first-round draft pick, everyone’s a five-star, but you have to get the ball in their hands. And you know, the good thing is they are loaded at tailback this year too.
"But I would not say that it turns into a finesse game. But it turns into a game that you got to be creative whether it’d be hand it to him, throw to him, throw screens to him. Your job as a head coach is to get the best players the ball."
This season, of course, the Buckeyes will have a new signal-caller under center after the departure of C.J. Stroud, now with the Houston Texans. But even after wideout talent like Jaxon Smith-Njigba is also off to the NFL, Ohio State still boasts a talented wideout corps with Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming.
Add that to an also impressive offensive backfield in Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson and there's no question Ohio State will find success on the field in 2023.
