Marcus Williamson: Urban Meyer Said He'd 'Ruin My F--king Life' If Caught Smoking

Former Ohio State defensive back Marcus Williamson ripped former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer and the culture of college athletics in a Twitter thread Saturday night.

Williamson, who retired from football and did not make the trip to the Rose Bowl with Ohio State, said Meyer told him he would "ruin [his] f--king life" if he was caught smoking. He also accused the program of using a photograph of Trayvon Martin to illustrate hoods being banned under Meyer.

While Williamson said he loved playing in the college atmosphere, he said college athletics strips players of their rights, with time-consuming workouts that hurt them academically while not providing them compensation for their work. He said he was "repeatedly pushed past my injuries as if I was completely expendable." 

"The industry is often silent because everyone is obviously chasing the big pay day. But the injustices these players face just isn’t right. We literally put our bodies and lives at risk with 0 guarantee. ... Why don’t you leave? Quit? Most of us have only been athletes our entire lives. This is how we try to feed our families and children. It’s either play their game or have 0 chance at the lottery," Williamson wrote. 

Williamson's accusations are the latest in a long string of bad headlines for Meyer, who was fired as Jacksonville Jaguars head coach last month. The Jaguars fired Meyer for cause after an ugly 2-11 tenure saw reports of him clashing with players and assistant coaches, facing criticism for attempting to hire a strength and conditioning coach who was accused of racism against Black players and an incident in which Meyer was shown on video with a woman who was not his wife after failing to accompany the team back to Jacksonville from a Week 4 game in Cincinnati. 

Meyer was suspended for the first three games of the 2018 season at Ohio State for his handling of domestic violence allegations made against a former assistant coach.