Urban Meyer Mentions Utah Memories, Zach Wilson In First Presser As Jaguars Head Coach

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Jacksonville Jaguars and Urban Meyer held his first press conference as the head coach and he mentioned Utah and Zach Wilson during the presser.

Urban Meyer coached at Utah for two seasons, which built the buzz of his success and Zach Wilson came up when talking about the quarterback class in the upcoming draft, which the Jaguars hold the No. 1 pick.

It’s basically guaranteed that the Jaguars will select a quarterback with the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft as that is one of the things that intrigued Meyer about the Jaguars job and jumping back into coaching.

Watch Head Coach Urban Meyer's introductory press conference presented by @thecsicompanies LIVE ⤵ https://t.co/6E6Q81BgJ8

— #DUUUVAL (@Jaguars) January 15, 2021

Meyer Talks About Utah Memories

When Urban Meyer talks about his coaching career, he almost always mentions Utah. Even though Meyer was the head coach of the Utes football program for two seasons, he always reflects on the success he had while in Salt Lake City. During his press conference, his time at Utah came up twice. The first time Utah was mentioned in the press conference was when he was asked about the biggest challenge of being a head coach in the NFL.

“Winning,” stated Meyer. “You are in a league that is designed to be .500. I coached at Utah where we were picked to lose most of our games. I coached at Bowling Green where we were picked to lose most of our games. Florida and Ohio State, you are picked to win most of your games. That’s the biggest challenge is looking across the field and saying ‘they got what you got or sometimes they got more than you got.”‘

It was evident that Meyer defied the odds when coming to Utah and left Salt Lake City with a 22-2 record in two seasons as the head coach of the Utes. He took over a program that went 5-6 in 2002.

The second mention of Utah was when he received a compliment from a coach at UNLV while with the Utes.

“My vision and my dream is always the fastest team on the field,” said Meyer. “When I mean fastest, not necessarily 40 time fast but fast. One of the great compliments I can remember that we ever had was the legendary coach John Robinson. He was coaching at UNLV and I was at Utah. We walk out to the 50-yard line and says ‘that was the fastest team I have ever coached against.’ I am thinking ‘we only have maybe one guy that runs sub 4.5 (40-yard dash time).’ But then you watch film and they play fast.”

Meyer Mentions Zach Wilson In QB Draft Class

Meyer was asked during his press conference about the quarterback class coming up in the 2021 NFL Draft which includes BYU quarterback Zach Wilson. The former Cougar standout was mentioned by name by Meyer when talking about the QB’s in the draft and the importance of picking the right signal caller with the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft.

"It's a quarterback sport. Whoever takes that snap, we have got to be right on." pic.twitter.com/ZSeHBxqmMM

— #DUUUVAL (@Jaguars) January 15, 2021

“You see Trevor (Lawrence), you see Justin (Fields) and you see Zach (Wilson),” Meyer stated. “This is a monumental moment for this franchise. We have seen franchises explode and we have others fail. I have said this many times through my career, when the NFL says it’s a quarterback league, I would say so is college, so is high school and pop warner. It’s a quarterback sport. Whoever takes that snap we have to be right on. That’s going to be one of the most important decisions I have made in my lifetime. I have seen some elite quarterbacks out there.”

Wilson is expected to be taken in the first round of the NFL Draft and is currently ranked the No. 3 QB in the class.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.