From Bowling Green to Utah to Florida, Urban Meyer has won early and won big. And when the Ohio native becomes the next Head Football Coach at The Ohio State University, he will have the talent and the resources to have an immediate impact and turnaround on a young, but extremely talented Buckeye squad
Twenty-five years ago, Meyer started his college coaching career as a Grad Assistant for former Ohio State Head Coach and now mentor and close friend, Earle Bruce. While at OSU, Meyer would openly tell student athletes that he would one day be the Head Football Coach at Ohio State, fulfilling both his and his late father's dream. Now, that dream is about to become a reality for Meyer and Buckeye fans.
When Meyer assumes the Head Coaching reigns, he will be positioned to compete for a Big Ten Championship and a BCS birth next season, as Ohio State returns 10 starters on Defense and several talented skilled athletes on Offense, led by Freshman Quarterback Braxton Miller, who Meyer called one of CFB's "best athletes" earlier this fall. Miller will be the centerpiece of the turnaround under Meyer, as he possesses the unique combination of passing skills and elusiveness to star in Meyer's Spread Option attack. Miller has shown great promise as a Freshman, running for 7 scores and 695 yards, while passing for 11 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. He was also able to lead his team to dramatic 4th Quarter comebacks at home against Wisconsin and on the road vs Purdue.
While Miller must improve his footwork and his accuracy, he is an extremely hard worker who should greatly benefit from improved coaching this spring. Moreover, he possesses incredible acceleration, lateral quickness and a unique ability to almost always make the first defender miss.
And while it helps that Meyer will inherit a potential Heisman candidate in Miller and arguably the Nation's best 2011 Freshman Class, he will also have the unmatched resources to dominate the Big Ten for the foreseeable future.
For one, Ohio is the only top-5 High School Football State in the Nation -- Ohio, Florida, Texas, California and Georgia -- without an in-state rival to recruit against. Moreover, Meyer, an Ashtabula, Ohio, native, has strong relationships with Ohio High School Coaches and should be able to once again "lockdown" the state in the same manner as previous Head Coach Jim Tressel. Moreover, Meyer is rumored to be adding several Assistants to his staff who also have Ohio ties. And while Michigan's Brady Hoke is taking advantage of Tressel's dismissal and the NCAA's ongoing investigation of Ohio State in recruiting Ohio this year, expect that to end immediately under Meyer.
Furthermore, Ohio State has one of the Nation's largest Alumni bases, top-5 facilities, storied tradition and tremendous University and Alumni support. And unlike the SEC where Meyer's Florida teams would have to face physical opponents on a weekly basis with similar elite athletes drawn from both high schools and the Nation's top Junior Colleges, he will not have to worry about that at Ohio State.
While Michigan has improved under Hoke, and Michigan State's Mark Dantonio, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Nebraska's Bo Pelini and Wisconsin's Bret Bielema have all built solid programs, they simply do not have the recruiting bases in their states to consistently compete with top Ohio High School talent. Michigan is primarily a high school basketball state, and only produces 3-5 potential impact recruits each year, while Ohio can consistently boast 10-15. Moreover, the Wolverines appear to be losing a little of their national recruiting appeal, as only 2 out-of-state recruits from their last 6 recruiting classes have been chosen First Team All-Big Ten.
Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin are similar to Michigan in that the states rarely produce more than 3-5 top prospects a year, though each University has been very successful in recruiting and developing linemen. Furthermore, Nebraska will no longer be able to recruit extensively from the JUCO ranks, as the Big Ten has more restrictive rules and higher standards for accrued credit hours for transfers than do other Conferences like the Big 12 and the SEC. Pennsylvania's high school football talent has been declining in recent years, and the current situation at Penn State doesn't bode well for the immediate future of the program.
Therefore, each of Ohio State's competitors must continue to recruit outside of their state -- often in Ohio -- to have any chance to compete athletically against Ohio State, who historically cleans up Ohio and goes into Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and occasionally Texas to add speed and talent in positions where Ohio may be thin during a certain year. Meyer should only make the Big Ten talent gap between Ohio State and their rivals wider, as he will have even better recruiting inroads for the Buckeyes in Florida, Georgia, Maryland (ex-Gator Joe Haden), Philadelphia (current Florida DT Sharif Floyd), New York and New Jersey, while again building a wall around Ohio, the one Northern State whose High School football seemingly remains unaffected by the Nation's vast migration toward the Sunbelt and the West Coast.
And, unlike Tressel, Meyer will be more aggressive on both sides of the ball and will be much more explosive and imaginative on offense. However, like Tressel, Meyer will have the resources and talent to not only dominate the Big Ten, but to again win a National Championship as soon as his second season in Columbus.
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