When it comes to college football head coach hierarchy, Urban Meyer always goes toe-to-toe with the greatest to ever do it. You can count on one hand the number of coaches who are or were better than Urban Meyer. The man was an absolute winner. He racked up 3 national titles and a 187-32 record (which is the 2nd highest win percentage in FBS) over 17 years. Now, with so many head coaching gigs available in the Power 4, obviously, Urban Meyer gets a call. But instead of taking a head coaching job himself, word is that Meyer is trying to pull an Ohio State coach into a powerhouse opening.

Even though Meyer has repeatedly said he has no interest in coaching again, his name keeps coming up for major jobs like LSU, Florida, and Penn State. Last week, he even mentioned it at the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame ceremony, saying he “doesn’t have a desire” to return. Even so, Meyer appears to be staying involved behind the scenes, planning to advocate for Ohio State Buckeyes offensive coordinator Brian Hartline for the Penn State job.

On November 3rd, college football insider, Audacy’s Zach Gelb, hopped onto his X and broke the news. “I’ve been hearing a lot about Urban Meyer and the Penn State job in the last 48 hours… Urban Meyer had a great interest level in becoming the next head football coach at Penn State.” According to Gelb, Meyer even spoke with Penn State decision-makers about taking the role.

The sticking point, Gelb explained, was NIL (name, image, and likeness) rules for college athletes. “The reasons why those talks did break down is when they got to the topic of NIL, which Urban Meyer has never been a head coach during the NIL era,” Gelb said. Meyer’s plan and answers about navigating NIL weren’t seen as strong enough by the decision-makers for Penn State’s leadership. Fair enough, the man never coached with NIL in play.

That’s exactly why he’s advocating Brian Hartline for the State College job: “Urban Meyer will not be the next head coach at Penn State, but… he could be talking to Penn State, advocating on behalf of Brian Hartline.” Meyer and Hartline worked together for a few years at Ohio State. In 2017, Meyer hired Hartline for an offensive quality control role, and since then, he’s come a long way. Meyer now seems to be pushing Hartline, who has built a reputation as one of college football’s best recruiters and wide receivers coaches over the last decade.

When you look at the new generation of NFL WR1s today, you see that Hartline recruits and develops most of them. The Ohio State OC has recruited first-round NFL draft picks like Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Marvin Harrison Jr. Plus, this season, the Buckeyes are the No. 1 team in the country, which makes Hartline an ideal and attractive candidate for Penn State. With Meyer backing him, Hartline could be next in line to lead a major program, while Meyer keeps a foot in the game without returning to coaching himself. Not only that, Brian Hartline’s engineering a Heisman in his backyard.

Julian Sayin Heisman development

Brian Hartline’s star quarterback, Ohio State freshman Julian Sayin, is now a Heisman favorite. On Monday, just two days after throwing 20-of-23 passes for 316 yards and four touchdowns, Sayin was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the fourth time this season. He’s been putting up incredible numbers and showing dramatic improvement with each passing week.

So far in 2025, Sayin has completed 176-of-218 passes, an 80.7% completion rate, for 2,188 yards and 23 touchdowns with only three interceptions. His performances have pushed him to the top of the Heisman race, and he’s currently the betting favorite on several online sites with +400. His timing is perfect, with the season winding down and bigger games coming up.

Ohio State’s toughest tests will probably be the regular-season finale against rival Michigan and a possible Big Ten Championship matchup against Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Sayin will get another chance to impress on the road against Purdue this Saturday to stat-pad his position as Heisman lead contender. The spotlight is on him, but his development so far makes Ohio State fans feel confident about what he can do in big moments.