Meyer: OSU won’t settle

Associated Press

COLUMBUS — Urban Meyer spent Monday’s first full team practice at Ohio State not watching what players did so much as taking a peek inside their facemasks.

That may seem like a strange approach for a coach, looking at faces instead of plays. But Meyer, hired to take over the NCAA-sanctioned program last November, was looking for signs of effort, grit and competition.

“Think about it, for all of us: It’s just so easy to be average,” Meyer said after the workout. “It’s so easy to just be an average guy. Greatness isn’t exactly (being an NFL) first-rounder. Now, I wouldn’t mind a bunch of first-rounders, but greatness means we’re going to try to push you to maximize who you are.”

He gave as an example getting after guys in the classroom or on the field who just hope to get by.

“If you’re a 2.0 student but you really should be a 3.0 student, we’re going to grind you,” he said. “And the same thing on the football field.”

So, during drills outside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, he kept looking at faces.

He could tell by looking at defensive back C.J. Barnett that he was giving everything he could give.

“Then I looked at a couple of guys next to him and they do accept (being average),” Meyer said. “So it’s our job as motivators and coaches to not allow that.”

Average, he said, won’t be tolerated.

Last year’s team wasn’t even that, going 6-7 overall and a dismal 3-5 in the Big Ten. This year’s team returns eight starters on defense and seven on offense and, with an NCAA bowl ban, has only 12 games to prove to others that it has taken a step toward erasing the defeats and doubts.

Meyer said he can tell already that many players worked hard during the summer to get up to speed with a new coaching staff and a new system. One of them was quarterback Braxton Miller, who mixed brilliant moments with bad ones last year while he learned on the job as a freshman. Miller said he has worked long and hard on throwing the ball this summer.

“Just working in the offseason by myself and the receivers out here and indoors, working on my accuracy, stepping into my throws, things like that,” he said. “Simple stuff.”

At Monday night’s practice, Miller sidled up to Meyer.

“Braxton had a really good day. And he feels good about it. And he made the comment to me that he knows what he’s doing,” Meyer said with a slight smile. “Well, he doesn’t know yet. There’s still a lot more to go. I winked at him and said, ‘Yeah, right, pal.”’