Former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta last weekend.
That status gained the three-time national champion a rare level of field access as Indiana and Oregon warmed up for the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Meyer was allowed to go inside the white lines. And ever the coach and football junkie, Meyer took full advantage, stopping at each IU position group to examine the players up close and personal.
What he saw he couldn’t believe.
Much has been made of Indiana not having the roster of a traditional college football power. Rather than a bunch of 4 and 5-star recruits, the Hoosiers have almost exclusively 0 and 3-stars.
So how is Indiana No. 1 in the nation, 15-0 and playing for a national championship Monday night while outscoring its opponents by nearly 500 points this season? Part of the explanation is the process of ranking recruits is highly flawed. Many players are graded as 0 and 3-stars until more prominent offers arrive, and then magically they become 4 and 5-stars. So that’s part of the answer. Some of IU’s players were just missed in the recruiting process and ended up at lower level schools.
But there’s also the developmental process that happens at Indiana. It’s hard to measure because it happens over a daily process that spans years. But that’s the part a coach with an eye for talent and a championship caliber football team can see.
And when Meyer watched Indiana on the field ahead of their 56-22 win over Oregon, he saw players who have been coached to reach their full potential, both physically and mentally.
“I watched the Indiana corners, linebackers, safeties, then I went down to the d-line, and then I started wrapping around to the o-line, and then I stood next to (quarterback Fernando) Mendoza as he warmed up with the wideouts,” Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast. “I stood right in the huddle of the wideouts.
“The job of a football coach is to maximize the mind and body, and I’m telling you, I have never witnessed a team that is fully maximized. I like to think we did a good job coaching. I imagine Nick Saban did a good job bringing the best out of his teams and some of these great coaches, Ryan Day, and Dan Lanning, etc. I’m telling you what I saw, the wide receiver group, Charlie Becker, (Omar) Cooper Jr. and (Elijah) Sarratt, they are maximized.”
“Indiana is an absolute case study on how to maximize a player and maximize a team,” Meyer added, noting he never had a team reach this level of maximization.
“I love the game that much, I love players and coaching. This is amazing. … You’re witnessing one of the greatest phenomenons in college football history.
Meyer attributes Indiana’s ability to get the most of the players to the program culture, which permeates down from the head coach, to the position coaches, to the players.
“I’m embarrassed. Not like this team,” Meyer said of maximizing the potential of his own players. “This team is you’re witnessing. I hear the greatest team in college football history potentially.”
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