Ohio State Football: Why Braxton Miller Would Benefit Most with Urban Meyer

The dream acquisition for every college football program with a coaching vacancy is ex-Florida head man Urban Meyer.

The Columbus Dispatch and others are reporting that the school set to land Meyer, un-retiring after just a year, is scandal-plagued Ohio State.

Whether Meyer really will become the Buckeyes’ head coach and whether he should are questions for another time. If he does, though, no Buckeye will be happier to have him arrive than freshman QB Braxton Miller.

Miller is a dual-threat QB very much in the mold of ousted Buckeye star Terrelle Pryor. Playing in essentially the same spread offense as the one Pryor ran to such great effect, Miller threw for 997 yards and ran for 611 more, accounting for a combined 17 TDs.

If and when Meyer takes over in Columbus, those numbers will skyrocket. Meyer’s souped-up spread won two national titles at Florida, and Miller would have as many as three seasons to grow into the system.

Even better for Miller, having Meyer around would do wonders for his NFL hopes. Alex Smith became a No. 1 overall draft pick after starring for Meyer at Utah, and current NFL folk hero Tim Tebow also came out of Meyer’s system.

Meyer’s recruiting savvy would also take some of the sting out of the NCAA sanctions the Buckeyes face in the wake of Jim Tressel’s assorted violations. That, too, would be good news for Miller, who will be stuck in Columbus for at least two more seasons with a potentially undermanned roster.

Ohio State, like most Big Ten teams, has always struggled with faster opponents, a problem that Meyer would soon remedy. His arrival would turn Miller into a guaranteed Heisman candidate, probably as soon as his junior season.