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MOBILE, Ala. – Urban Meyer isn’t the only NFL story these days, but make no mistake:
Even though the Jaguars head coach and his team aren’t attending Reese’s Senior Bowl this week, Meyer is still a story here. A big, fascinating story.
“It’s really interesting,” longtime NFL reporter Albert Breer said Tuesday as he attended Senior Bowl practice 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 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 three-time National College Championship head coach’s decision to coach in the NFL.
We’ll have more from the Senior Bowl throughout the week, but for this story we’ll focus on Breer’s thoughts on Meyer – who won three National Championships in a 17-year college head coaching career. years in the NFL and never coached in the NFL. .
“If he’s successful, I think it will be because he’s one of the best communicators I’ve ever seen – an elite communicator,” Breer said of Meyer. “He knows how to get the best out of people – not just the best of a catcher running a new course, but the most people on Wednesday and the best of his strength trainer in April.
“Above all, he knows how to get the best out of people in a consistent way.”
Breer said he expects Meyer to bring a “holistic approach to Jaguars, with an emphasis on nutrition, strength and player development and an emphasis on program building.”
“All of those things are part of the deal when you introduce Urban Meyer,” Breer said.
Meyer won national championships after the 2006 and 2008 seasons at the University of Florida, then won a national title at Ohio State after the 2014 season. He left the state of Ohio after the 2018 season, rising to 2019 and 2020 to work for Fox Sports.
He also spent that time preparing for an NFL opportunity if the right one presented itself, and Breer said Meyer relied heavily on former Ohio State players to learn the differences between the university and professional games.
“He recognizes that he’s going to have to change some things to fit into the NFL game,” Breer said. “He really believes 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 this player that really matters.”
Meyer has spent much of the last 10 days hiring a coaching staff. While this staff has yet to be officially announced, reports indicate that longtime NFL defensive line coach Joe Cullen – a defensive line coach with the Jaguars from 2010-2012 considered the one of the best coaches in the NFL – will be the defensive coordinator and that longtime offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, will fill that position with the Jaguars. It would also be a staff of a mix of college and professional coaches, with former Meyer assistants such as Charlie Strong on the staff.
Meyer upon hiring called hiring elite staff his top priority.
“This part is so interesting,” Breer said. “The focus will be on player development. The focus will be on what coaches can do. One thing you’re going to see is that the coaching staff will take responsibility and they won’t. not point fingers at players.
“It will be, ‘If you can’t develop them, we’re going to find someone else who can.’ ”
Breer also discussed what many believe is an overlooked part of Meyer’s personality as a coach – that is, his ability to adapt and adjust when necessary. While Meyer won national titles with an extended offense that he helped popularize in Bowling Green, Utah and Florida, he found success at the end of his tenure at Ohio State with a recoil offense highlighting stars quarterback Dwayne Haskins – a much different player from previous Meyer mobile quarterbacks. like Tim Tebow, Braxton Miller and JT Barrett.
“He’s not married to do things a certain way,” Breer said. “Suddenly he has Haskins and hires [then-offensive coordinator and current Ohio State Head Coach] Ryan Day. Now all of a sudden what are they doing? They are doing something totally different. There is no doubt that over time he has become much more of a cultural coach than a project coach. If there are things with him that are not negotiable, I don’t think the ploy is one of them.
“We’re going to focus not only on picking the right guys and signing the right guys, but it’s also going to turn the players who are in the building into Urban guys.”
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