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Urban Meyer speaks to the media after being introduced as the new head coach of Ohio State football on Nov. 28 in Columbus. / Getty Images Ohio State will kick off its first spring under Urban Meyer with a team dinner, in what looks like a magnanimous ...
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MoreOhio State will kick off its first spring under Urban Meyer with a team dinner, in what looks like a magnanimous gesture on the part of the new football coach.
Pretend the banquet is taking place in a Malibu beachfront establishment. Some of the Buckeyes will be directed to tables with linen tablecloths and an ocean view. Others will spend the night having their forks knocked out of their hands by the swinging kitchen door - and they'll be grateful they're not being served in the employees' washroom.
"It's all about accountability," he said Tuesday of his self-dubbed Champions Dinner, set for Monday, March 26, two days before the start of spring drills. "The champions will eat very well and the non-champions will not eat as well. Hopefully it will give (the players) incentive to do things right."
Meyer will let the players go on spring break next week not knowing if they have emerged from winter conditioning drills as champions or chumps. Most of them, unless they're totally clueless, can probably guess their fate.
"As intense as offseason conditioning drills have been, this spring will be even more intense," Boren said. "There is no on-off switch. Everyone will be going full-go every play. It will be a physical spring with everyone putting everything on the line."
Meeting with reporters Tuesday to give them his spring forecast, Meyer's first order of business was to commend his strength staff for running a "phenomenal" conditioning program.
If they're lucky enough to be sitting at a "champions" table at the banquet, they'd better savor the meal because whatever they consume won't be sitting on their belt very long.
"When you get away from your mommies and daddies, it's a tough world out there," Meyer said. "The people who prepare and work hard get the corner offices and trips to Cancun and bonuses.
"Everything we try to do around here is incentive based. If you want to live off campus, I have no problem with that, but you have to earn that right. If you want to change to No. 1, I don't care what (number) you wear, but don't come see me unless you're taking care of your business in all the other areas we evaluate."
Meyer has been in love with quarterback Braxton Miller and defensive lineman John Simon since he arrived and it's hard to see that changing.
"I want to see that distaste in someone's face when they lose," Meyer said. "If they don't share the same distaste our coaches have, I really don't want to see them play."
Three players who transformed themselves this winter were tight end-turned-offensive tackle Reid Fragel, tailback Jordan Hall and backup quarterback Kenny Guiton.
"I'd be surprised if he doesn't have his best academic quarter," Meyer said, while also noting Fragel's physical change. "He's tinkering with 300 pounds and looks fantastic."
Hall is one of many question marks on offense - "I don't know who's going to touch the ball," Meyer said - but less of one since January.
Meyer described Hall's offseason as "borderline great" and said that the other two returning tailbacks, Carlos Hyde and Rod Smith, have made "light years" progress over the last week and a half.
As for the kiddie corps of receivers led by Devin Smith, Corey "Philly" Brown, Evan Spencer and Chris Fields, Meyer hasn't seen enough on film, probably because former offensive coordinator Jim Bollman was so inept.
"We're not known as a fullback-tight end offense, but you're going to see some of those formations," Meyer said. "We have to get our best 11 (players) on the field and there are creative ways we can get them the ball."
In Tuesday's 6 a.m. team meeting, the last before break, Meyer emphasized to his players that if they wait until the opening of fall camp to compete for a spot on the two-deep roster, it will be too late.
"By the time we hit camp, it's game over," he said. "We're trying to beat Miami of Ohio (the season-opening opponent). By the time we get to August, we're all about trying to win a game."
Wednesdays and Saturdays during spring drills are designated as Winners and Losers days, with competitions at the end of those practices going a long way to shaping the depth chart.
"It's very, very competitive," Meyer said. "It's not just running around cones and drill work. At the end of the day, there will be substance."
Substance, after all, won Meyer two national championships at Florida. That and putting champions and non-champions in their place, whether it be the best table in the house or out by the trash bin.
"We are what I thought we would be," he said. "We've got a bunch of good, tough kids ... they like to train, get knocked around and show their toughness. It's a blue-collar Ohio way of doing things and you see it in these kids."
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Ohio State will kick off its first spring under Urban Meyer with a team dinner, in what looks like a magnanimous gesture on the part of the new football coach.