Ohio State QB Quandary: Former Meyer Assistants Share Their Thoughts

By Eric Seger on April 23, 2015 at 2:15 pm
Dan Mullen
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If you're looking to figure out how Urban Meyer operates down to the bare bones as a college football coach, look no further than a pair of his former assistants, Steve Addazio and Dan Mullen.

Addazio, now preparing for his third season as the head coach at Boston College, worked with Meyer for six years at the University of Florida. Mullen, who's been the head man at Mississippi State since 2009, was with Meyer at Bowling Green, Utah and later Florida. Altogether, they've coached under Meyer for a combined total of 14 seasons.

Both Addazio and Mullen said they see a peace about Meyer now that he's won a national title in his home state, but did admit to Ohio State's quarterback situation for 2015 — having three capable starters in Braxton Miller, J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones — is distinctive.

"This is a high pressure business we're in right now," Addazio said Friday at the Ohio State Coaches Clinic. "There's good moments and bad moments. It's all about balance."

Meyer, admittedly, lost that balance at Florida following his second national title in 2008, driving himself mad trying to be perfect and do it all himself while he lost 37 pounds and nearly lost his life.

The pressure to repeat is higher now more than ever, though, mainly because Meyer's at a place like Ohio State which eats, sleeps and breathes Buckeye football.

St. Petersburg Times/Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire
Meyer and Addazio won a boatload of games everywhere they coached together.

But according to Mullen, being back home has helped Meyer put his mind at ease.

"I think he's changed when he walks out the door and I think that's what he learned from the balance of you know what, at 11 o'clock at night, it's OK to close your eyes and go to sleep and you're still going to find a way to win," Mullen said Friday.

Meyer did admit last month the situation is starting to "eat away" at him, though, because of how much the three of them have physically and emotionally invested in the program.

Mullen sees that, too.

"I think for him, I think the wear is they bring different things to the table," Mullen said. "His responsibility to the program, to do what's best for the program and do what's best to help the team win."

The need to win consistently brings added pressure to every person in the college coaching ranks and it's something Meyer's done better than anyone in the last 10 years. He's won nearly 85 percent of his games and is on pace to reach 200 victories faster than any coach in Division I history.

But having a quarterback quandary like this — where two are coming off injury and the third won a national title — is rarified air.

"It looked OK out there at practice (Friday)," Mullen said. "To me, I got to watch practice, and it looks like they're handling it pretty well."

Both Barrett and Miller are still a little ways away from being fully healthy, so whether or not they continue to handle it well still remains to be seen.

"I've never been in this situation," Meyer said March 10. "I was close one year with Tim Tebow and Chris Leak but they were both very, very good players. If I remember the backup might have been Cam Newton. So I guess we were kind of in that situation."

Mullen brought up that three-headed monster Friday too, having been the quarterback coach for Tebow, Leak and Newton. Newton left Florida and won a national title and Heisman Trophy at Auburn in 2010. Tebow won a Heisman as well, and combined to beat Ohio State in 2006 with Leak for a national title before capturing another in 2008.

That's quite the laundry list of laurels.

"I always remember, I had a situation a long time ago with Chris Leak and Tim Tebow and people always said, the perception of 'how does this work?'" Mullen said. "The reality was I think they knew they needed each other and they both wanted to win a championship. So in the room they understood the plan and the reality of the situation was it worked easy because they knew they needed each other."

Whether or not all three stay put and do something similar to what those three did at Florida will be determined this fall. Meyer said he isn't opposed to using a "specialty quarterback" like they did with Tebow and Leak, something Ramzy so eloquently delved into earlier this week.

The bottom line, though, is two of Meyer's best friends see positive returns from the man they look up to and owe their careers — even with such a big decision coming down the pipe this fall.

"I'm not psycho-analyst guy," Addazio said. "I see a happy guy, I see it's going to be what it's going to be, but he's great."

Added Mullen: "I've spent a lot of time with him — he's always found a way to do (what's best for the program). Put a team in a position to be the most successful to go and win."

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