Urban Meyer is unquestionably on the Mount Rushmore of college football coaches in NCAA history despite the recent scandal that forced him out of Ohio State because he allegedly knew about spousal abuse from assistant coach Zach Smith.
He wasn’t technically fired. Meyer was put on administrative leave and then announced he would retire from coaching following the 12-1 Ohio State Buckeyes Rose Bowl game in late 2018.
But Urban Meyer just revealed his favorite quarterback that he ever coached and it should come as a surprise to no one.
Urban Meyer began his head-coaching career in the small Mid-American Conference for the Bowling Green Falcons from 2001-2002. Those two seasons put him on high alert to a bigger job when the Utah Utes came knocking on his door out of the Mountain West Conference. In two years in Utah he went 10-2 and 12-0 in 2003 and 2004 respectively.
And then a bigger school came calling in 2005 when the University of Florida hired him for the head-coaching job.
In six years with Florida, Urban Meyer led his team to two National Championships winning both of them and had an overall record of 65-15.
In 2012, THE Ohio State University Buckeyes wanted his services and Meyer spent the rest of his career there until 2018. In that span he was either tied for first in the Big Ten Conference or won it outright for seven straight years and also won another National Championship in 2014.
It’s safe to say his career was the stuff of modern legend with three National Championships in the span of eight years with two different schools.
That means he’s had a lot of quarterbacks over the years. On Tuesday, Meyer sat down during a Q&A luncheon and revealed that Tim Tebow was his favorite quarterback that he ever coached.
Coach Urban Meyer said his favorite QB to coach was @timtebow!
Reply with your favorite player under Coach Meyer: pic.twitter.com/0WL30Rj9cy
— Fiesta Bowl (@Fiesta_Bowl) August 20, 2019
This shouldn’t come as a surprise because Tebow is undeniably considered to be one of the best college quarterbacks in college football history.
Tebow played a role on the Gators’ national title-winning team in 2006 before becoming “the guy” for his final three seasons at Florida. During that time, he brought home another national title and a Heisman Trophy.
Meyer coached a few notable quarterbacks during his career. Former Utah quarterback Alex Smith might not have been the No. 1 overall pick in 2005 without Meyer’s tutelage.
Meyer went on to coach J.T. Barrett, Braxton Miller, Cardale Jones and Dwayne Haskins – among others at Ohio State University
Tebow is one of the most likable athletes in the country even as just a minor league player right now.
Unfortunately, Tebow suffered a gruesome finger injury recently which ended his season, but he’s also the very definition of resilience too so we should see him back in action next year.