Does Urban Meyer Deserve Partial Blame in Aaron Hernandez Case?
by Karlo Zovko
Posted July 7, 2013 3:54 am
Aaron Hernandez, Big 10, Buckeyes, florida, ohio state, Urban Meyer
As developments continue to arise on the recent murder case involving New England Patriot’s star Tight End and former University of Florida standout Aaron Hernandez, scrutiny has started to be thrown to former Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer. Meyer took over as Ohio State’s head coach last season and went 12-0 in his inaugural season in the Big 10.
But is this scrutiny and blame fair?
It has been said Meyer pushed many things involving Hernandez and other Florida players under the rug during his tenure at Florida. Meyer claims he held his players to a high standard, stating that he even tried getting Hernandez in a Bible study class.
You have to believe Urban. Although he is the head coach, did he actually control everything that went on regarding his players? No. No college head coach can completely control everything going on with their players off field. Just look at Alabama’s Nick Saban for instance. He is regarded as college footballs best coach (2nd best in my opinion next to Urban Meyer), and his players just got in trouble for armed robbery this off season. It is impossible to keep tabs on every player on a college football roster.
Urban left Florida after the 2010 season. When he came back, to Ohio State, he tried bringing in a final wave of recruits in the 2012 recruiting class. One recruit Ohio State was still recruiting after NSD was Good Counsel star Stefon Diggs. Diggs had narrowed his schools down to Florida, Ohio State, and Maryland. It was reported he told Diggs the player problems Florida had, and that the entire situation was a mess. During his six seasons at Florida, 30 players were arrested.
This did upset Urban. He wanted to strive for better player conduct. He went on to state, “After a while, enough’s enough. If there’s something that we can improve on, we’re certainly looking into that. It’s like if our graduation rate stinks then we gotta improve that. If there’s other issues in a program, that’s our job to get it better. It’s people making stupid mistakes, that’s something we gotta correct.”
But does this all link back to Urban Meyer deserving blame for the suspected murder Aaron Hernandez committed?
No.
Linking Meyer as a major reason Hernandez committed this crime is not only absolute and utterly ridiculous; it’s baffling from my standpoint. Meyer has not coached Hernandez since the 2009 season and it’s uncertain if they even kept in constant contact.
Meyer has moved on from Florida, and deserves no more blame for Hernandez’s actions than you or me. Hernandez chose to pull the trigger after an altercation. Meyer should have no reason to be in the media regarding this situation. Hopefully, this can be put to rest.
For more updates on Urban Meyer and Ohio State, be sure to continue to visit Preps.com as we will be giving season long updates.
Read more recruiting articles by Karlo Zovko
Follow Karlo Zovko on Twitter: @Kzovko
Email Karlo Zovko: zovkox@preps.com
Add Karlo Zovko to your Google+ Circle
TAGS:
Aaron Hernandez, Big 10, Buckeyes, florida, ohio state, Urban Meyer