Urban Meyer reveals off-season conversations with Joe Burrow

First-year Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer has spent time at some of the most prestigious blue bloods in college football. After turning heads at Utah in the early 2000’s, Meyer moved on to Florida and then Ohio State. Despite all his experience at the college level, he decided to make the leap to the NFL, much like many of his former players.

Meyer came into his first NFL offseason with a clear plan. As the coach with the most knowledge of this crop of college talent, he hoped to use his connections in the draft and free agency to turn Jacksonville into an instant winner. The first big step was taking former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence No. 1 overall.

As he entered his first season, Urban Meyer sought advice on how to best handle a No. 1 overall pick, particularly a quarterback.

Getting the inside scoop

According to Urban Meyer, he reached out to former Ohio State and LSU quarterback Joe Burrow for advice on making the transition easy.

“I just wanted to talk to a guy who was in that position in recent history,” Meyer told the Associated Press. “We talked several times throughout the spring, just about what I could do — what we could do — to help our rookie quarterback.”

Burrow went through some ups and downs of his own in year one, showing off his talent in the opening weeks before missing the back half of the season with a torn ACL. Now back in year two, Burrow looks the part of a No. 1 overall pick. Although he is best known for his work at LSU, the former Ohio State quarterback thanks Meyer for his help along the way.

“He was really hard on me, and it made me a better player and better person,” said Burrow. “What he does is, when he gets a new player, he tries to put them in a very intense situation to see how they respond, to see if he can trust that player.”

He continued: “He really did that to me early in my career. I really wasn’t sure why it was happening. But then as I got older and more mature, I really understood why he was doing it, and it did make me better.”

Urban Meyer and Joe Burrow are set to meet again this week as the Jacksonville Jaguars travel to Cincinnati to face the Bengals on Thursday Night Football. The matchup of No. 1 overall picks promises to dominate headlines as the two face off for the first time since the 2020 CFP National Championship game between Clemson and LSU.