When Urban Meyer was asked during a press conference Friday morning how many of his players come to Columbus thinking they are going to go on and play in the NFL, the Ohio State head coach didn’t even hesitate in his response.
“I bet it’s 100 percent of scholarship players,” Meyer said.
And while that may in fact be true, it obviously doesn't wind up happening.
Don’t get it twisted: Ohio State produces plenty of NFL talent. The Buckeyes had five players selected in the 2015 NFL Draft and had additional players sign contracts as undrafted free agents. Over the last 10 years, 55 Ohio State players have been drafted.
But truth be told, not every player who suits up in the scarlet and gray is going to go on and play professional football.
And it's precisely for that reason why Meyer and his staff have brought in a program designed to help those players for what comes following a playing career, whenever it may end: the Life After Football Program with Real Life Wednesdays.
Once a week, Meyer brings in someone to talk to his team about life outside of football and what it takes to be successful in the real world. Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and the president and CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, have been two of the recent visitors to Ohio State’s campus. The idea is to get some of the Ohio State players thinking about what’s ahead of them, what they’re going to do once football is over.
And everything sort of all comes together once a year at the annual Ohio State Job Fair, which took place Friday evening at the Huntington Club inside Ohio Stadium.
According to Ohio State, 57 companies from 11 different job or business sectors had recruiters or human resource representatives in attendance at the event. A few of the companies in attendance were Key Bank, Giant Eagle, State Farm and Northwestern Mutual.
Ohio State athletes were able to freely walk around and network with these various companies, exchange resumes and inquire about any questions they might have.
“As student-athletes, we don't have much time to get work experience in the summer. Other students can either go home or get internships," Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott said. "What we do is we do shadowing plans or try to find shorter internships. This job fair is an opportunity to meet these people at different companies and set up these internships."
Elliott, like a number of other Ohio State players, has a future ahead of him in the NFL. That is the ultimate goal, after all. But even though some players may have that luxury of playing at the next level, they know it's not going to last forever.
Ohio State's Job Fair helps them prepare for that day even if it is way down the road.
"Coach Meyer makes it clear that everybody who plays football here, the goal should be the NFL," said Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee, who noted he'd like to get into broadcasting when his playing days are over. "But our coaches do a great job of keeping us focused and taking things step by step and we don’t get ahead ourselves."
For Meyer, it’s about preparing his players for the future — something he seems very passionate about doing.
“I would say I spend — I won’t give you a percentage because I’m not sure — but a good majority of my time in the spring making sure the kids are getting shadow opportunities and internships,” Meyer said. “We do a good job. Once a week we take time away from football and we spend it in real life, in a real life application with Real Life Wednesdays.”
According to the NFL Players Association, a player’s average career length is just a little over three years. That’s not a lot of time.
Meyer knows football won’t be around forever for the majority of his players. He and his staff are doing their best to try and help them.
“There was an era where — I remember when I was a young coach — when you graduated you had a job,” Meyer said. “There were jobs available, and now, after hearing many times and witnessing players as a coach get a degree — I don’t want to say it’s meaningless, that’s not fair — but maybe it’s in a major they’re not interested in, maybe it’s a survival degree which happens. Then they graduate and put so much time and effort into it and they don’t have a job opportunity.”
And with Real Life Wednesdays, Meyer is hoping to change all of that.
