Landon Young says Urban Meyer called him and UK 'insubstantial' during recruitment

It's not often you hear of college coaches giving harsh criticism to incoming recruits, even ones going to a different program.

That's not the case with UK signee and five-star offensive tackle Landon Young and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer. Being a four-time national title winner and one of the best coaches of his generation, Meyer knows good talent when he sees it, and though he eventually saw it in Young, he didn't exactly make the then-high school senior seem like much more than a piece of meat, according to the player.

In an interview with SEC Country, Young revealed a scathing review Meyer allegedly gave him during the lineman's recruitment, including what would've been a pretty blatant shot at UK.

It may not be the best thing, but actually, 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.

After Young's recruitment picked up steam with other schools offering him, Young said Meyer and his staff reemerged as a group that was suddenly interested. So Young returned to Columbus, and this is what he recalled about a private meeting with Meyer:

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.’

That sort of put me on a bad note because that’s the team I’m committed to. He called me a bad player at that. That doesn’t usually sit well with kids. I may not have been the best, but saying I was an insubstantial player sort of hit me the wrong way.

Be sure to read the full interview here.

If true, it would be safe to say Meyer doesn't hold UK in high regard, nor does he seem to value players who aren't viewed as elite talent, even though that's what Young was by the end of his senior season.