Urban Meyer is unquestionably one of the top two head coaches in college football and along the way he's sharpened his exaggeration skills to a nearly equal level.
That's not a knock on a the man with 61 wins in 67 tries during his time in Columbus. If anything, hyperbole is just another thing in which Meyer excels at. Is there anything he can't do at an elite level?
Following the Jim Tressel era, Meyer's penchant for off-the-cuff statements rooted more in real-time passion than eventual actual fact are often as refreshing as they are hilarious.
Urban is typically at his hyperbolic best during spring ball, B1G Media Days and again during the opening days of fall camp as he fields questions about who will play, which guys we should watch for etc.
Often times these questions will see Meyer harken back to seasons past when he coached a player who was "the best <fill in the blank> I've ever been around."
We've laughed about this in our 11W slack for years. Recently, the golden Freezing Cold Takes twitter account joined the fray and called out Meyer's magic:
Happy birthday Urban Meyer! One of the best coaches anyone has ever "been around" who has "been around" some of best players and coaches! pic.twitter.com/Butm9OQakd
— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) July 10, 2017
The "best I've been around" takes aren't the only gems in Meyer's holster.
For years Meyer has used pressers to remind everyone how Ohio State doesn't redshirt guys – only to later redshirt a ton of guys.
Along those same lines, Meyer isn't shy about heaping praise on freshmen in the spring, alluding to the notion a host of them will play major roles in year one, only to typically see, at best, spot duty.
Back in 2014, Sam Hubbard was a name Urban couldn't stop bringing up – throughout the entire season – but still eventually slapped him with a redshirt.
Two springs ago Meyer heaped praise on the true freshmen class, suggesting many would see major action but only Michael Jordan and Nick Bosa played significant snaps on offense or defense.
This spring, Meyer called the early enrollees "maybe out best group we've had come in" and followed that up with the usual "a lot of these guys are going to play."
It remains to be seen how true that statement becomes but history suggests it'll be more fiction that fact.
At this week's B1G Media Days, Meyer's game should zero signs of rust.
A guy he's absolutely showered with praise over the years despite 13 career receptions in 21 games, Parris Campbell, came up in conversation as the next Curtis Samuel. Okay, that's not too outlandish I suppose but the fact remains Urban has made more effusive comments about Parris in four years than Parris has catches at this point.
Later, Meyer went to bat in a big way for Johnnie Dixon touting him as "off the charts right now" which could be true but it might be prudent to not put any additional pressure on a kid who's had tough luck with injuries leading to seven career receptions over three seasons.
Meyer also went on to suggest Terry McLaurin will start at a wide receiver spot after already touting Campbell as the starter at H-back and basically calling Dixon a starter only to also say the wide receiver position battle is "wide open." Hmmm.
The best commentary from Meyer this week however came as he discussed the open right guard slot. With a straight face Meyer suggested seven guys have a shot at the job saying, "there’s positives and negatives to having seven guys. How do you get those guys reps? And no one has really stepped up and taken it. So it’s going to be a street fight, especially the first 10 days, because you can’t have seven guys competing for that spot."
I'm sorry but if you think there are truly seven guys in the running to be Ohio State's starting right guard, I've got some oceanfront property in Topeka with your name on it.
But that's just another example of what makes Urban so damn awesome. At the time he says these things, he's such an optimist he believes them in the moment even though sometimes what he's saying is borderline ridiculous and/or contradictory of something else he recently said.
I'll miss his dominance on the field whenever he decides to to hang up his whistle but I might miss his unintended hyperbole even more. (That's hyperbole. I'll absolutely miss the wins more.)
