Former Texas Football Star Accuses Urban Meyer of 'Pay for Play'

Former star Texas Longhorns wide receiver B.J. Johnson had an interesting story to tell about Urban Meyer in a recent podcast interview.

Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer walks by the end zone during the first half between Michigan and Ohio State at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

In the 2000 recruiting class, the Texas Longhorns landed one of the best wide receiver classes in program history, and perhaps even college football history, when they signed Roy Williams, Sloan Thomas, and B.J. Johnson.

The trio would go on to set Texas records before also moving on to the NFL, cementing their status and forever linking them together as three of the best receivers to ever do it in Austin.

However, the Longhorns had to fight off some serious competition to land the three star pass catchers. And as Johnson revealed in a recent podcast interview with On Texas Football, he revealed a crazy story about then Notre Dame wide receivers coach, Urban Meyer, in which he accuses the now national-championship winning coach of a pay-for-play offer to sign with the Irish.

"Hell, Urban Meyer locked me in an office in my school, and no bullsh*t, asked me straight up," Johnson said during the interview. "He was like, 'BJ. How much?' And this was when he was at Notre Dame at the time. And, it caught me off guard because I just thought we (were) talking football. And he was like, ‘Nah, how much?' So, it's been going on."

"That's the unfortunate part about this. Think about the guys who didn't get the chance to have a career because they decided to take some money. Now you look up now and guys are making a couple million dollars, and you're like, 'I still don't have a degree, because you wouldn't let me play football.'"

Obviously, Meyer's plea didn't work, and Johnson ended up in Austin, where he would go on to haul in 152 catches for 2,389 yards and 16 touchdowns, averaging 15.7 yards per reception.

What makes that even sweeter for Texas, is that, according to Johnson they were able to bring him in on their own merit, without offering the same kind of deal that he alleges Meyer to have offered.

"In all honesty, I never got offered anything from UT," Johnson said. "Coach (Mack) Brown was a straight-up guy."