MOBILE, Ala. – Urban Meyer is not the only NFL story today, but make no mistake:
Even though the head coach of Jaguars and his team are not participating in Reese’s Senior Bowl this week, Meyer is still a story here. AN big, fascinating story.
“It’s really interesting,” said longtime NFL reporter Albert Breer on Tuesday, while attending Senior Bowl training at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the University of South Alabama campus. “I think what Urban brings above all else is the ability to lead a program and to build a program.”
Breer, formerly of the NFL Network and now a senior reporter for Sports Illustrated’s Monday Morning Quarterback, has covered Meyer closely in recent months – documenting and discussing the NFL coach’s decision as a three-time national champion.
We will have more of the Senior Bowl throughout the week, but for this story we will focus on Breer’s thoughts on Meyer – who won three national championships in a 17-year high school senior NFL coaching career and who never trained in the NFL.
“If he succeeds, I think it will be because he is one of the best communicators I have ever seen – an elite communicator,” said Breer of Meyer. “He knows how to get the most out of people – not just the maximum of a receiver running a route nine, but the maximum of people on Wednesday and the maximum of his coach in April.
“He, above all, knows how to get the most out of people consistently.”
Breer said he hoped Meyer would bring a “holistic approach to the Jaguars, with an emphasis on player nutrition, strength and development and an emphasis on program building”.
“All of those things are part of the deal when you bring Urban Meyer,” said Breer.
Meyer won national championships after the 2006 and 2008 seasons while at the University of Florida, and then won a national title in the state of Ohio after the 2014 season. He left the state of Ohio after the 2018 season, passing 2019 and 2020. working for Fox Sports.
He also spent that time preparing for an NFL opportunity if the right opportunity came, and Breer said Meyer relied heavily on former Ohio players to learn the differences between college and professional games.
“He recognizes that there are some things that will have to change to suit the NFL game,” said Breer. “He really believes that every team has good players. For him, there is a belief that an NFL player is inherently a good player. It’s what you do with that player that really counts.”
Meyer has spent much of the past 10 days hiring a technical team. Although this team has not yet been officially announced, reports are that longtime NFL defense coach Joe Cullen – a defensive line coach with the 2010-2012 Jaguars considered one of the best pass-rush coaches in the world NFL – will be the defensive coordinator and the longtime offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, will occupy that position with the Jaguars. It will also be a team with a mix of college and professional coaches, with Meyer’s former assistants such as Charlie Strong as part of the team.
Meyer, after his hiring, considered hiring an elite team his top priority.
“This part is so interesting,” said Breer. “There will be a focus on player development. There will be a focus on what coaches can do. One thing that you will see is that the coaching staff will take responsibility for this and they will not be pointing the finger at the players.
“It will be, ‘If you can’t develop them, let’s find someone who can do that.’ ”
Breer also discussed what many believe to be a forgotten part of Meyer’s personality as a coach – namely his ability to adapt and adjust when necessary. While Meyer won national titles with a widespread offense that helped popularize in Bowling Green, Utah and Florida, he succeeded at the end of his tenure in Ohio with a comeback offensive with quarterback Dwayne Haskins – a player very different from quarterbacks Meyer’s earlier furniture such as Tim Tebow, Braxton Miller and JT Barrett.
“He is not married to do things in a certain way,” said Breer. “Suddenly, he has Haskins and hires [then-offensive coordinator and current Ohio State Head Coach] Ryan Day. Now, suddenly, what are they doing? They are doing something totally different. There is no doubt over time, he has become much more of a culture coach than a schema coach. If there are things with him that are not negotiable, I don’t think that scheme is one of them.
“There will be a focus not only on recruiting the right guys and hiring the right guys, but it will also turn the players in the building into Urban’s type of guy.”