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‘Around the Second Week of Camp’: Marvin Jones Quickly Realized Urban Meyer Was a Mistake

The longtime collegiate coach embarked on an NFL rollercoaster, one mired with controversy and ineptitude.
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“Wow, that really happened.” This phrase alone is enough to summarize the chaos that was Urban Meyer’s lone season in Jacksonville.

Long before dancing at an Ohio bar with younger women and making national headlines for not knowing who number 99 was on the Los Angeles Rams, players quickly caught on that Urban Meyer was not going to last very long at the professional level.

For veteran wide receiver Marvin Jones, that realization came shortly into Jaguars training camp.

“Around like the second week of camp,” Jones said in an interview with The Volume. “You know, the vibes, and like when the meetings, you know if you said one thing and it wouldn’t be true. 

"I was like look, everybody in the league we all have phones and we can all fact-check. Just be real. That’s one of the big things, somebody that’s transparent and somebody that’s real. You know, tell us the truth. Especially in this day in age because you can look up everything and see if it was right or not.”

It’s safe to say that Jones's inclinations were correct. Meyer didn’t even make it through his lone season, being fired with four games remaining in the 2021 campaign. His Jaguars coaching stint saw him finish with a 2-11 record and a media circus for all the wrong reasons.

From benching James Robinson, to allegedly being involved in a minor physical altercation with kicker Josh Lambo, Meyer’s NFL tenure was not without its head-scratching moments. Some argue that Meyer’s time as coach of the Jaguars may be the worst coaching performance of all time.

Suffice to say, regardless of how the Doug Pederson era in Jacksonville ends up, it will never top the living nightmare that is Urban Meyer.