Urban Meyer denies story that he didn't know who Aaron Donald was, kind of
There were countless stories out of the Jacksonville Jaguars surrounding Urban Meyer's disastrous tenure, but perhaps the most fascinating was the tidbit that Meyer didn't know who Aaron Donald was.
Most anyone with an interest in pro football knows Donald, the Los Angeles Rams star defensive tackle who has an argument as the best player in all of football. It's mind-blowing to think an NFL head coach didn't know him.
A report from The Athletic in March, citing a source, said Meyer asked a Jaguars staffer: “Who’s this 99 guy on the Rams? I’m hearing he might be a problem for us.” According to The Athletic, "multiple sources" said Meyer was unfamiliar with a few NFL stars on other teams.
Appearing on "The Tim May Podcast," Meyer denied the story of him not knowing Donald. Well, kind of.
Urban Meyer: 'Silly' to think he didn't know Aaron Donald
Here's the back-and-forth on Donald between May and Meyer (it comes at the 29-minute mark of the video):
"First of all, there's no way you didn't know who Aaron Donald was, right?" May asked.
"When I heard ... someone told me that," Meyer said. "I've heard silly things before in my life. It's almost, you shouldn't even address stuff like that it's so silly."
"I asked Ryan Day that facetiously at a press conference a few weeks ago and he laughed," May said. "The bottom line, the point was 'Are you stupid? This man knew who Aaron Donald was.'"
May then moved on. Meyer dismissed the question, but didn't state explicitly that he never said what was reported, nor did he clearly say he knew who Donald was. Maybe he didn't need to say it. Maybe he did.
Either way, that halfway denial during a friendly interview might not kill the urban legend (so to speak) that Meyer didn't know a player who will retire as one of the greatest defensive players ever.
Meyer thinks Jaguars were turning around
Meyer said he's enjoying life and family since he got removed as Jaguars coach. He said he wants to get back into broadcasting by the fall, something he enjoyed.
One thing that won't happen is getting another chance to coach an NFL team.
"I believe we got fired because we didn't win enough games," Meyer told May. "In my strong opinion, I'd hear people rip our roster apart — we had good enough players to win games. We didn't do a good enough job. I've always been a person, you are what your record is. We were 2-11, that's terrible. Now, they lost 15 games straight before that. It was a build. And I believe we would have turned it."
It takes some doing to take responsibility for a 2-11 record in one sentence and then point out right afterward that the Jaguars lost 15 in a row before he got there. Meyer has spoken a little bit about his time with the Jaguars and some accusations against him. He has been accused of disrespectful comments to players, kicking his kicker Josh Lambo during the preseason and generally unprofessional acts from an NFL head coach. He believed it all would have been OK with more wins.
"You can go on and on: Like you said, I don't know who Aaron Donald is, or what about this, whatever ... I shake my head like 'What are you talking about?'" Meyer said on the podcast. "We just had to win more games."
Meyer will stick around in the public light, assuming he lands a broadcasting job this upcoming season. Surely there will be more stories uncovered about his Jaguars days for him to answer about.
