Urban Meyer addresses Kentucky commit Landon Young’s scathing remarks about his recruitment

Urban Meyer met with the media after the Buckeyes' ninth spring practice. He discussed where he has seen improvement and hasn't, along with why players might not be performing their best, as well as comments from Kentucky commit Landon Young.

Young had the following to say about his interactions with Ohio State, via SEC Country:

I was at Ohio State having a private meeting with Urban Meyer. I had gone up to camp there, and they had treated me like a piece of meat, just treated me like crap. By that time, I was a four-star tackle. I weighed about 270 [pounds], and I was 6-7.

I wasn't even on their radar. I came back up after they offered me. Four straight days, I got (offers from) the University of Cincinnati, Alabama, Auburn and then Ohio State. I went up and said, ‘Coach (Meyer), what was the reason that you all of a sudden offered me?' He said, ‘We looked at your tape, and it was pretty good and I saw interest in that.' I said, ‘Well coach, back when I was just committing to Kentucky and keeping my options open, I came up to a camp and sent you my film and everything, and you didn't even reply. It seemed like y'all just deleted it.'

He said, ‘Well, if you look back at that time, you were how big?' I said, ‘6-7, 270, just like I am now.' He said, ‘Well, you were an insubstantial tackle, an insubstantial player,' so he was saying I (didn't) even amount to being able to be recruited by Ohio State as a four-star tackle. He said, ‘Now what offers did you have?' I said, ‘I had my one from Kentucky,' and he said, ‘Well, you were an insubstantial player with insubstantial offers from an insubstantial school.'

* Meyer said he has a lot of respect for UK recruit Landon Young, and said he was disappointed in his staff for not offering Young sooner than they did, saying they missed on him early on. "Then about the treatment thing, we don't do that on purpose, if that's his feelings. I went back and talked to our staff about it."

* When it comes to recruiting, Meyer said that they can't offer every player in the state of Ohio, talked about how people ask, "Why didn't they offer this guy?"

* Meyer said the progress of the defensive line was "just OK". He added that Michael Hill is fighting through a nagging ankle injury. He said that DaVon Hamilton and Robert Landers have improved.

* Meyer said Sam Hubbard and Jalyn Holmes had been doing really well. He believes that Hubbard will make a big impact next season.

* Meyer expressed his desire for a closed door practice with no outside distractions.

* Meyer mentioned there can only be three reasons why a player isn't playing well, 1. You're a "poor" player 2. You're poorly coached and 3. There's something wrong with chemistry in the unit room, in your lifestyle. Meyer said 90 percent of the issues revolve around No. 3.

* Meyer said Ezekiel Elliott was "a very mediocre running back" his freshman year. Also mentioned improvements from Eli Apple and Michael Thomas over the years.

* Meyer noted that Johnnie Dixon and James Clark are having their best springs ever.