What can Urban Meyer do on recruiting trail while suspended?
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Ohio State Recruiting Question of the Day
We’re through the looking glass now, people. The Urban Meyer saga should be nearing its end, with a three-game suspension levied, accepted and in place.
Overall, Meyer will miss almost seven weeks of Ohio State football, surrendering six weeks of salary and getting a sizable chunk of the goodwill he’s accrued during his tenure with the program stripped away and damaging his brilliant career legacy. There was never going to be a winning outcome for Ohio State and Meyer in this ugly situation, but somehow the outcome has appeared to set off those who steadfastly believe he’s entirely innocent of wrongdoing and those who felt from Day One that only a termination would serve as fair punishment.
Wild, right?
Either way, the show is going on in Columbus. Eventually it will be Urban Meyer once again leading the charge for the Buckeyes. It may take time for things to normalize in Columbus, but in college football recruiting, you don’t get a chance to relax and let things take their natural course. Meyer and Ohio State will have to aggressively refute the narrative that there’s something afoul within the program, a narrative that will be preached as gospel from coast to coast as fallout from this August nightmare settles over college football.
The question for today though is this: When will Meyer himself get a chance to face the young men he’s recruiting and their families?
https://twitter.com/TheMoun10/status/1032608660286005255
Meyer’s penalty just came to light last evening and though some of its nuances (he can go back to team on Sept. 3, work with them during the week but not on game days, etc.) are known, there are some parts that remain uncertain. Recruiting is one of them. I asked one source, usually very clued in, about Meyer’s role in recruiting and when he’d be back in that space.
“We don’t know the guidelines yet,” he said.
I believe him. I think it’s safe to assume that whenever Meyer’s university-issued cell phone is returned, that’s when he’ll be able to use it to contact recruits. I expect that will be on September 3, when he’s set to return to his office at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Until that happens, Meyer will have to continue relying on his assistant coaches and director of player personnel Mark Pantoni to navigate the muddied recruiting waters as we exit the August dead period and kickstart September, a busy time that opens lines of communication with rising-juniors.
Whenever the guidelines for Meyer’s suspension are fully revealed — and I have reached out to Ohio State for clarification on this particular matter — we’ll make sure it’s covered. Until then, I’m operating under the pretense that Sept. 3 will be the day Meyer is back to work on the recruiting trail as well as with his current team.
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