Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer will be featured on HBO's Real Sports at 10 p.m. tonight where he opens up about the end of his tenure at Florida. On Tuesday's weekly Big Ten coaches teleconference, Meyer spoke about the piece.
"Some people said this would be a good thing to do and I get asked to do a lot of different interviews and usually turn them down," he said. "(Andrea Kremer) a great lady, asked some great questions, but that was just more toward the end of my tenure at Florida so most of my career I’ve been usually health conscious and I’m doing that right now.”
Meyer said now in his offseasons, he "gets away" from football and spends the majority of his time with his family.
“I actually did some research and I asked some of my collegues how do you stay the course here and the common denominator amongst most of them was to get away from it at times so that’s what I’ve tried to do.”
Meyer was asked if there were any positions on the team where starters weren't determined yet, and he again said the offensive line is the only group not completely solidified.
“I would say the offensive line is still a work in progress. I think three positions are pretty well solidified, we’re just trying to finalize who the best five are, or the best six and just rotate them and play," Meyer said. "Other than that, we’re pretty well settled in, I think. … The good thing is at a couple positions, the ability to rotate some players. You can never have enough, but we have to build depth."
Meyer said that good teams "walk different and talk different" when they have a sense of confidence about themselves. He saw some of that last year, but admitted he wants to see more with this year's team.
“Not enough. I saw that in the offensive line last year and I saw that with Carlos Hyde, but I’m not seeing that permeate through the team yet, but there’s four new starters on the offensive line and an entirely new secondary so it’s hard to have that right now," Meyer said. "I’m seeing guys that are enjoying practicing and going against each other, but not where we need to yet, no.”
Meyer was also asked about Adolphus Washington and Doran Grant. He lumped Washington into the same category as Curtis Samuel and Braxton Miller saying he hasn't seen Washington's ceiling yet and said Grant has "come a long way" in his leadership abilities.
Notes:
The Big Ten had its best week of the season in Week 4, going 12-1 as a conference. Michigan was the lone league team to lose, while Indiana picked up one of its biggest wins in program history with a 31-27 win over No. 18 Missouri.
Nine Big Ten teams will open conference play Saturday and additional notes and information from the conference's other 13 coaches from Tuesday's Big Ten teleconference are below.
Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern):
- There was a lot of dead time and awkwardness during Fitzgerald's time. He was only asked three or four questions. "That's what happens when you're 1-2, buddy."
Brady Hoke (Michigan):
- "We get to start Big Ten play this week and it's a new opportunity for all of us and it's exciting."
- On who is going to be Michigan's starting quarterback this weekend: "We've got some ideas of what we're gonna do but we're still gonna evaluate it. ... We're still gonna have both guys take the reps."
- Hoke said the starting quarterback will likely be named later in the week. "We wanna make sure we're right."
- Does Hoke read any media stuff during the season? "Not to hurt anybody's feelings, but no I don't."
- Hoke was asked if he was considering any changes on the offensive line. "We'll see how the week goes."
Gary Andersen (Wisconsin):
- Andersen said Melvin Gordon was "fantastic" in his 253-yard, five-touchdown performance against Bowling Green.
- On Tanner McEvoy's improvement: "Maybe the comfort, the knowledge. ... His pre-snap awareness is his biggest area where he's gained knowledge, gained experience in the last 14 days."
- McEvoy was a safety last year and Andersen said that has helped him be a better quarterback. "That has definitely helped Tanner. ... He sees things a little bit different than kids may see because of his experience on the defense last year."
Bo Pelini (Nebraska):
- "For us, the season kind of really starts this week with Illinois coming in."
- Pelini said he didn't really have any thoughts on the Big Ten's bounce back week. "You just look across college football and it's just every week. You've gotta come every week and some weeks are gonna be better than others. There's a lot of parity, there's a lot of good football teams out there."
- On the skirmishes after the whistle against Miami: "I think it was two teams playing hard. It enver got really out of control. There were a couple things where guys kind of got tangled up after the play and I think both staffs and benches handled it well."
Mark Dantonio (Michigan State):
- On the feeling Michigan State is off the national radar: "We're a 2-1 team right now that had a bye early in the season and quite honestly we're still looking for who is Michigan State and what is our identity?"
- Dantonio said he and Wyoming coach Craig Bohl were up for the same assistant coaching job at North Dakota State years back. The position went to Bohl.
Kirk Ferentz (Iowa):
- On the Big Ten's bounce back week: "I guess this is natural, but I think a lot of this stuff gets overplayed. Football is week to week and we've got a lot of really good football teams in our conference."
- Ferentz isn't sure who the quarterback will be this weekend. "Right now, C.J.'s our starter because Jake won't be practicing, but we'll see how the week plays out."
Jerry Kill (Minnesota):
- On difficulties of going into Michigan Stadium to play. Apparently a reporter didn't see last week's game, but Kill said, "I think it's a deal that when you have that strong tradition, it's not easy to go in there and play."
- On not knowing which Michigan quarterback will start this week: "Devin Gardner's been their quarterback so that's what we have to prepare for. ... You've gotta prepare for him like you always have."
- "There's such a rich tradition playing for the Little Brown Jug and all the things that go into playing the University of Michigan."
Kyle Flood (Rutgers):
- On the attitude on Rutgers' campus: "We'll have a great gameday atmosphere this week."
- Flood said offensively Rutgers and Tulane, Rutgers' opponent this weekend, are somewhat similar offensively.
- On the loss of Paul James: "The players find out before you deliver the news. This is a part of the game and we're not the only team in the country that has a player go down for the season."
Tim Beckman (Illinois):
- "As usual this year, it seems, we came out and played much better in the second half."
- On quarterback Wes Lunt's early-season success: "Numbers-wise he's one of the tops in the country. As all of our kids, I think Wes has played very good in the second half of football games. ... I'm happy with the way he's playing and we've gotta continually get better there's no question about it."
Randy Edsall (Maryland):
- On Indiana's Tevin Coleman: "He's very quick and he is explosive and he's quick to the hole. He's got good vision, he's got good balance and it's very obvious he's got a good understanding of what's happening in front of him."
Darrell Hazell (Purdue):
- On the transition to Big Ten play: "Any time you get into Big Ten play it's gonna be physical football and we've gotta make sure we address that this week. Iowa is a physical, physical team."
James Franklin (Penn State):
- Franklin was asked about the Big Ten's 12-1 week: "I'm aware of what's going on in the conference with other teams, but I don't really study it or spend a lot of time being concerned about it."
- On Northwestern's defense: "They've always been hard-nosed. They always run to the ball extremely well. ... You're very rarely gonna catch them out of position and they've done it that way for a long time and been very successful."
- On areas of improvement: "Our running game has been inconsistent this year, but it improved this past week."
Kevin Wilson (Indiana):
- On Tevin Coleman's success: "He's a very, very good player that has matured into a very consistent and great practice player. The way he prepares is awesome imagery for our younger players.
