Urban Meyer talks up "best roster in college football" ahead of new season

09 May 2023 , 13:10

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Urban Meyer looks on during the first round game of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament between the West Virginia Mountaineers (Image: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Former NFL coach Urban Meyer has named who he thinks had the “best roster in college football”.

Meyer, who was most recently the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021, has named the Texas Longhorns as having the best group of players in college football. Texas finished the 2022 season 8-5 but lost to the Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl last December.

As well as the NFL, Meyer has decades worth of experience of coaching football, including as head coach at Ohio State, Florida and Utah, to name just a few. And now Meyer has explained why he thinks Texas has the best roster.

Meyer name-checked Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers as being a key player for Texas. Ewers suffered a shoulder injury to his non-throwing arm last October which led to him missing three matches for the Longhorns.

Despite this, Texas still managed to finish third in the Big 12 and reach the Alamo Bowl. And Meyer is backing Steve Sarkisian’s team to do well in the upcoming 2023 season, along with two other teams, including one of his former employers.

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“I think Texas,” Meyer told . “You didn’t mention them, but don’t sleep on Texas this year. I was talking to [On3 recruiting analyst] Mark Pantoni, and I was talking to the recruiting director at Ohio State. Man for man, roster against roster, it’s hard to say Texas doesn’t have the best roster in college football.

Urban Meyer former head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

“Now, they’ve got to play. It’s been a while since Texas has been good or elite,” Meyer added. “But their quarterback, I watched him (Ewers) live against Alabama before he got hurt. They could have won that game. We all know Quinn Ewers from when he was at Ohio State. I think Georgia, Ohio State and Texas are all in pretty good shape.”

Texas have won three National Championships in their history, but have not done so until the 2005 season. That was the first time they won the title in more than three decades, since the 1970 season.

Georgia Bulldogs won the College Football National Championship for the fourth time, beating the TCU Horned Frogs in convincing style with a 65-7 victory. They had previously had an undefeated regular season, finishing 15-0 before winning the title.

Ohio State finished second behind Michigan in the Big 10 East division after ending the season 11-2. The 2023 college football season is due to begin at the start of this September and run until the end of November.

Mark Wakefield