Urban Meyer on kicking incident with Jaguars: 'That's not true'

Urban Meyer’s tenure with the Jacksonville will be remembered for all of the wrong reasons. One of the final straws for Meyer before being fired by the Jaguars was former Jacksonville kicker Josh Lambo alleging that Meyer kicked him during the preseason.

Meyer has denied the incident in the past, but it is still being talked about today. On Monday, Meyer joined the Don’t @ Me show with Dan Dakich, where he again denied Lambo’s accusations with some very interesting comments.

“When you come out and say that there was a player kicked, that’s not true,” Meyer said. “That’s not true at all. Of course there was accountability and there were hard conversations and all of that. But I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ But I do take ownership in the fact of how you go about pushing is 2022 or 2021.”

Meyer added that he might have tapped Lambo with his foot, but he maintains that it was not in a true kicking fashion.

“First of all, own it. I certainly did not,” Meyer said when asked if he kicked Lambo, as reported. “To say I didn’t tap him with my foot, but to kick someone? Come on. I’ve done this 37 years. Kick a player? The other players came up to me and said they saw the whole thing. ‘Cause I mostly had forgotten about it.”

When the report of the incident first came out, Lambo had a pretty detailed description of the alleged kick from Meyer.

“I’m in a lunge position. Left leg forward, right leg back,” Lambo said. “Urban Meyer, while I’m in that stretch position, comes up to me and says, ‘Hey Dips–t, make your f–ing kicks!’ And kicks me in the leg.”

In part of Lambo’s report, he also said that he had issues with the way that Meyer coached him.

Meyer took responsibility for pushing hard on the Jaguars players

In speaking with Dakich, Meyer said that he respects almost everyone with the Jaguars. He wanted to go in and push as hard as he could to try and help the organization rebuild and turn around. Meyer understands that nowadays, pushing as hard as he does might not be welcomed by all, and he took responsibility for that.

“I love and respect most everybody in that building,” Meyer said. “I went in there as hard as I possibly can – I mean hard – to try and win and turn things around. Maybe you push some people the wrong way, but I’m a pusher. I’m a guy that’s always going to push. I mean push hard. That’s not comfortable for people, but winning is not comfortable. Growth is not comfortable, change is not comfortable.”

“It’s how you push. And that’s where I take responsibility.”

Meyer was just 2-11 in his 13 games with the Jaguars. While he came into Jacksonville with hopes of building around young quarterback Trevor Lawrence, another head coach will instead get that opportunity.