Urban Meyer calls Jim Harbaugh’s recently-penned letter ‘well thought out’

Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer have had their differences over the years, but one thing they can agree one is student-athletes having more control over their decisions.

Meyer was interviewed by Fox Sports, his current employer, and this is what he had to say about Harbaugh’s recently-released letter that everyone seems to be opining about:

“As much as I sometimes get challenged on whether to agree with coach Harbaugh or not, I thought it was a great letter,” Meyer said. “I thought there were some great points into it. There’s actually a group of coaches that have been having conversation about keep pro pro, keep college college. Any time a player wants to go test the markets and wants to become a pro athlete, go do it.”

Meyer went on to talk about his former running back at OSU, Ezekiel Elliott, and how no one knew about him until their playoff game against Alabama.

“He should be allowed to go to the NFL after that. He should,” Meyer said. “If an athlete wants to go pro, then go pro.”

However, Meyer says the downside to players having control would be them potentially making the wrong decision due to the wrong people being in their ears about it.

“Make no doubt about it — there will be plenty of players get hurt and hurt badly from this,” Meyer said. “The reality is the NFL is very, very, very hard. What’s going to happen is guys are going to get agents, they’re going to get those third uncles that say, ‘Go to the NFL.’ I’ve dealt with it at least a hundred times. And they don’t get drafted and they give away a free education.”

Harbaugh’s letter brings up if student-athletes stay in college for X amount of years, then they would get X amount of years back in education if their pro career didn’t go well for whatever reason. So Meyer’s line of thinking wouldn’t make sense here if Harbaugh’s full proposal was put in place. Meyer recognizes that and bring it back up, and then, once again, agrees with Harbaugh.

“It’s a very well thought out letter. I think athletes — if they want to go pro, go pro.”

I think Meyer’s comments about the letter are spot on, and it seems like the majority of people reacting to Harbaugh’s proposal actually agree with it as well. At the end of the day, student-athletes should be able to make whatever decision they want.

Don Brown appears on Jon Jansen’s podcast

One of my favorite guys to cover on the Michigan beat is defensive coordinator Don Brown. He always has something interesting to say, whether it’s about football or life.

In his latest appearance on Jon Jansen’s “In The Trenches” podcast, he hit on both football and life. But the thing I want to highlight is this quote, where he discusses his players in their virtual meetings and how locked in they are.

“Without a doubt, one of the other things that I noticed is when we’re running our virtual meetings, guys are never late. Very attentive,” Brown said. “I don’t think I’ve had one discipline issue through the entire seven weeks, and you can tell the ole love of football is there. They’re anxious to learn.”

This is quite the encouraging update. Work meetings can sometimes be a bore, but especially over a video call when you aren’t face-to-face with your team members. Hopefully that translates to the player’s time away from the video calls as well, and they are putting in the strength and conditioning work on their own.

Check out the whole podcast here.

National Brews

• The return of the NBA is picking up steam, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports the participants on a phone call earlier this week discussing the possibility of finishing the season left that phone call feeling “increasingly positive” and “encouraged” about the direction it is going. A decision likely won’t be made for two-to-four weeks.
• A league we haven’t heard much about since the pandemic is the NHL. Well, in today’s encouraging news, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said canceling the season is “not something I’m even contemplating.” No word yet on when the season will, if at all, resume.
• Doug Ducey, the governor of Arizona, said professional sports can resume in his state on May 16. Of course, sports won’t start up that day, but he says his state is “trending in the right direction” for sports to return whenever they come back.
• Florida governor Ron DeSantis one-upped Ducey, as he said Wednesday all pro sports teams are “welcome to play and practice in Florida.”