Urban Meyer Denies Report He Kicked Jacksonville Player

Meyer's brief tenure in Jacksonville epitomized dysfunction, and the former coach addressed reports Monday that he kicked a player.

The Urban Meyer era in Jacksonville was nothing short of an abject failure. Meyer won just two of 13 games before his eventual firing, failed to develop former No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence during that stretch, garnered embarrassing headlines for his behavior in an Ohio bar and allegedly kicked former kicker Josh Lambo during practice.

Meyer addressed that last bit of controversy on Monday during an appearance on Dan Dakich's Don't @ Me show, during which he flatly denied kicking Lambo while describing his style of "pushing" players in the organization to improve.

“I love and respect most everybody in that building, and I went in there as hard as I possibly can—I mean, hard—to try to win and turn things around, and maybe pushed some people the wrong way," Meyer said. "But I’m a pusher, I’m a guy that’s always gonna push—I mean, push hard. It’s not comfortable for people, but winning is not comfortable. Growth is not comfortable, change is not comfortable.”

After detailing how he viewed his role in pushing his players, he said he needed to take accountability for mistakes, then denied (unprompted) that he kicked Lambo.

“It’s how you push, and that’s where I’ve got to take responsibility too," Meyer said. "How you push. When you come out and say that there was a player kicked, that’s not true. That’s not true at all…but I do take ownership in how you go about pushing. It’s 2022, I’ve just got to own it.”

Dakich then asked Meyer directly if he kicked Lambo, and Meyer said no—though he did not rule out the possibility that he may have "(tapped) him with my foot," as he could not fully remember the incident.

“I certainly did not," Meyer said. "To say I didn’t, like, tap him with my foot...to kick someone? Come on. I’ve done this 37 years. Kick a player? The other players came up to me and said, ‘We saw the whole thing,’ because I mostly forgot about it.”