Urban Meyer joined Paul Keels, the voice of the Buckeyes, and former player Jim Lachey for the first 2015 broadcast of the Urban Meyer Coach's Show on 97.1 The Fan. Ohio State's fourth-year coach talked Virginia Tech and all things Ohio State football.
Urban Meyer says the Monday night game is great for a national platform, but "not good" otherwise. Said they're going to go out there and "try to win a game" next week with three days of practice.
Urban visited Cardale Jones this morning; gauged his pain at an eight on a 1-10 scale. "He's fine," though he'll be limited in practice.
J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones both "look good." Again reiterated that both will play, but he isn't yet sure how he's going to split it. "They're two of the greatest people I've ever been in around in my life."
On how he prepares the team for a hostile road environment: What it comes down to is making sure they're good players on their team and that they recruit well. "When it comes to Ezekiel Elliott making a guy miss, all that training goes out the window."
"Parris Campbell has made a push. He's going to be very involved."
"Marcus Baugh's had a good couple of weeks. He'll be involved."
On Braxton Miller's WR transition: "It's been fantastic for me to coach a guy I love... very unselfish. They were cautious not to push him too hard because they didn't want to risk a hamstring injury. "That's two weeks... and we don't have two weeks."
Lachey notes the early practices were the hardest he'd ever seen Braxton Miller work during practices.
"Torrance Gibson is very interesting. Unfortunately he had an ankle injury but he's back to full speed ... He'll play this year."
K.J. Hill "will play this year."
"Denzel Ward has moved ahead of Eric Glover-Williams. He's legitimately fast."
Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, and Mike Weber will be "very involved in special teams" which is a prerequisite to playing time at Ohio State.
On replacing Bosa: "I think Sam [Hubbard] is the first guy in." Notes Jalyn Holmes will see time, but isn't as consistent as Hubbard.
On Virginia Tech: "Very good coach. Very good defensive team. Put it to us last year. The biggest hurdle is that they have good players." Rates Lane Stadium as a "Top 5, Top 10" toughest environment to play.
On the Bear: "We've worked so much on that; it's not going to be a 'What is this?' which got them last year." They spent so much time on preparing for Navy they didn't do a good enough job preparing their team for it.
"Between Ed [Warinner] and I, we'll call the game." Also notes Zach Smith is becoming "very involved" on third down.
College football and the NFL success relies on teams being able to put their corners on islands. "That will be a big part of the game Monday night."
Meyer said he will render his #QBgeddon decision two days from now. He will not tell the team his decision.
Marshon Lattimore is injured again. He's at "75-80%" and is questionable for Monday night.
Isaiah Prince, Branden Bowen, Kevin Feder, Matthew Burrell are four baby Slobs who drew praise from Meyer.
Meyer isn't concerned about people singing team's praises. "You worry when you have bad players."
"We don't play many games on grass anymore." "Managing a game on grass is a little different... but not much."
Burrell had to go all the way down to 285 to get that "stuff off him." And now he's in the process of "building it back up."
Joe Burrow must improve his arm strength and continue to grow and mature.
They did Training Days with ESPN back in 2012 to fight the image that "Ohio State is so bad." Notes ESPN wanted to run it back this year, but BTN had the contractual rights.
Fully replay available via 97.1 the Fan.
