Did Urban Meyer pass on Texas football to get No. 1 pick in NFL Draft?

The talk of the town around the Texas football program throughout a good portion of last fall sat with the potential hire of Urban Meyer to become their next head coach to replace Tom Herman. But nothing concrete ever transpired for Texas athletic director Chris del Conte to get the three-time National Champion and ex-Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators head coach to the Forty Acres.

After the talks with Meyer fell through for the Longhorns last year, they went through with the hire of the former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator and reigning Broyles Award winner Steve Sarkisian. It was on Jan. 2 that the Longhorns replaced the former fourth-year head coach Herman with Sark.

Although it might not have played a role in him passing on the Texas job when it was all said and done, there is a recent report that came out detailing why Meyer took the position he did in the NFL.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reportedly stated (confirmed by 247Sports report) that Meyer took the head coaching job with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL because of the first overall pick they have in the 2021 NFL Draft. That means that there should be a high level of intrigue for Meyer in getting to coach up the former Clemson Tigers star quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Fowler and Meyer have an established history dating back more than a decade. The former Ohio State and Florida head coach reportedly threatened Fowler when he was with the Orlando Sentinel back in March 2010. That was when Meyer was still the Florida head coach. That was his final year as head coach of the Gators, though.

Former Texas football HC candidate Urban Meyer prioritizing the draft

The Jaguars hold the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft. In all likelihood, the Jaguars will wind up picking the former Clemson superstar signal caller Lawrence with that first overall draft pick.

Moreover, the question does beg to be asked, would Meyer have ever returned to the college football coaching ranks if he had not landed a head coaching job in the NFL?

It sounded like Meyer was only willing to take a head coaching job with a blue blood program if he were to return to the college football coaching ranks in the near future. In his couple of years since retiring from Ohio State, Meyer was on the crew on Fox College Football along with the likes of former USC Trojans’ stars Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart.

Maybe Texas would’ve eventually been able to lure Meyer out of retirement, but there’s no certainty to that claim. Texas looks to have found a solid head coaching hire in Sark, who has provided a spark for this program both in terms of the excitement in the fan base and the results on the recruiting trail in the last few months.

Texas finished up last season with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12) under the direction of former head coach Herman. Sark and the Longhorns are now in the midst of spring ball, with the Orange-White Game set to kickoff at DKR on April 24 at 1 p.m. CT.