BUCKEYES TO BROWNS
Mike Hall Jr. is selected 54th overall in the second round of the NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns.
GENEVA, Ohio — A heavy workload full of speaking engagements, youth camps and recruiting keeps any coach of a Division I football program busy in the offseason.
Add in the satellite camp boom and a family that demands your attention in a capacity more than just the occasional text message, and summer 2016 has a bit of a new twist for Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.
"It's been tough," Meyer said with a sigh and raise of his eyebrows Wednesday at a luncheon following his and Dean Hood's fourth annual youth football camp at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
"There is a lot of good that comes out of (satellite camps) but I am always worried about our staff, worry about burn out," Meyer continued. "At some point, when do you get to watch your kids play baseball? I know what I'm going to do, I'm going to watch my kid play baseball."
Wednesday's camp for kids in grades 1-8 provided Meyer a chance to take a breath. The coach said he remains just as busy this summer as he did a year ago when Ohio State was months removed from winning the inaugural College Football Playoff.
Satellite camps have plenty to do with that. So far, Meyer and his staff traveled to camps in Florida, New Jersey and Georgia plus showed their faces in other regions of the country.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh led the charge and established the satellite camp theme as early as April, promoting his program everywhere from Hawaii to Australia. Meyer holds a three-year head start on Harbaugh, and some — including Meyer himself — argue the Ohio State brand is as strong as its ever been right now. An impressive 50-4 record in four seasons helps that.
"We had a nice run," Meyer said. "Obviously, you miss a game here or there but don't try to look backwards now. Look forward."
“You have to do what you have to do to stay up in the world of recruiting, but there's also an element of freshness with your staff too.”– Urban Meyer
Meyer and Ohio State possess the resources and staff numbers to jump in with two feet to the satellite camp craze. But they also want to recognize where it falls in line in the recruiting landscape.
"You have to do what you have to do to stay up in the world of recruiting, but there's also an element of freshness with your staff too," Meyer said. "Those are all things we're going to evaluate because this is the first year we've really done it in earnest. I think we only did about three or four, but we'll continue to evaluate that."
The satellite camps do help Group of 5 programs find players — Ohio State hosted three separate one-day camps last month and coaches from MAC schools and more blanketed the Woody Hayes Athletic Center turf in the hunt for players. The Buckeyes own the nation's top-ranked 2017 recruiting class and know full well the prospects that remain on their radar wouldn't all be in Columbus participating in those camps.
"We have the Ohio State camp and all the MAC schools are there and they say there (are) over 100 scholarships offered in that camp alone," Meyer said. "Because not everybody can play at an Ohio State level. It's a great way to not make families pay ridiculous amounts of money to go to camps all across the country."
That makes for a busy May and June for the Ohio State staff, which is why Meyer said he gave his assistants some time off before it gets back in the thick of things ahead of the start of fall camp Aug. 7. So while he still sponsors a youth football camp 10 miles from his hometown, Meyer wants to keep his mind in perspective for what is on its way.
"We've got a very young team, we're recruiting our tails off, some good stuff going on," Meyer said. "There's good, young players at Ohio State. Good momentum right now.
"This (offseason) is critical," he added. "The good thing is, we're allowed to work with them. I gave the coaches two weeks away. When they get back, we start coaching them up again. You get those two hours a week to work with them. It's very important, obviously."
